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WASHINGTON AND OHIO 



ZR^ILIRO^ID . 



A GLANC1 AT THE 001 Ml:V THRODGB Wlliril u PAS 



WASHINGTON, I). ('.. 



THE onio i; i v I : !;, 



■ 



\I II. I 



I'll I ; \ i 



TIIK 



WASHINGTON AND OHIO RAILROAD SCHEDULE. 



Leave ALEXANDRIA a1 8.45 A. M. and 4.00 P. M. 
Pass LEBSBURG " L1.00 A. M. " 6.00 P. M. 

Arrive at HAMILTON "11.20A.M. " 6.35F.M. 

Leave HAMILTON 5.40 LM. " L2.20 P. M. 

LEESBURG " 6.00 A. M. " L2.55 P. M. 

Arrive at ALEXANDRIA " 8.15A.M. " 3.15P.M. 

The 8.45 A.M. train from Alexandria and the L2.20 P. ML train from Hamil- 
ton conned (at Hamilton) with Kemp's daily line of Coaches for Purcellville, 
Round Hill, Snickersville, Berryville, and Winchester. 

The 4.00 P.M. train from Alexandria ami 5.40 A. M. train from Hamilton 
make close connection at Washington Junction with trains to and from Wash- 
ington < 'ity. 



Commutation Tickets} Three ('nit* per mile. 
Ann ii of Tickets, Sixty Dollars. 



R. II. HAVENER, 

General Superintendent. 



THE 



WASHINGTON AND OHIO 



RAILROAD. 



A GLANCf Al THE CODHTRT THRODGfl WHiCfl || PASSES, 



WASHINGTON, I). ('., 



THE < > I I I < > RIVEB 






8 '.' R MIL I.s. 



I'll I I. A r> l. i. p HI A: 

1 "Li in-. i'i: i \ TE i:. ; .1 I v \ i a ikkkt 



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WASHINGTON AND OHIO RAIL ROAD. 



I »1 TIGERS AND DIRECTORS. 
President. 



Lewis McKenzik. 



Alexandria, Va. 



Clerk and Treasurer. 
Reuben Johnston. Alexandria. Va. 

Chief Engineer. 
Washington Blythe, Alexandria. Va. 



General Superintendent. 



R. II. Havener. 



Alexandria, Va. 



Directors. 



Cassius F. Lee, 
Andrew Jamieson, 
Charles B. Ball, 
Henry Heaton, 
Benjamin Morgan, 
Richard Henry Lee, 
F. W. M. Hollidav. 



Alexandria, Va. 
Alexandria, Va. 
Leesburg, Va. 
Leesburg, Va. 
Berryville, Va. 
Millwood, Va. 
Winchester, Va. 



By Tr*n«l>r 

JUN 8 



CONTENTS 



PAOI 

T)i<- National Capital .......;> 

The mute of "The Washington and Ohio Rail Road," and the resources 
of the country through which it will ....('. 

The Washington and Ohio Rail Road Report to Chamber of Comn 
- Indorsement "f the project Speech of CoL Wm. H Trimble \'l 

Lnnual Meeting , . . 1 1 

ton, D. C. . . . . . 1«", 

ftown, P. • .18 

Alexandria, Va. .... . . 1- 

The Washington and Ohio Rail Road . . 19 

The Orange, Alexandria, and Manassas Rail Road 20 

•lria and Fredericksburg Railway 'ju 

I indria and Washington Rail Road . 20 

mdria < lanal .... 21 

'_' 1 

22 

. 
in, Vs !>■ 

\ 

\ 

II •'• \ '.i 

I •■ \ \ 

. . \ 

\ . 



NT IKS : — 

Barbour, \\ . Va 
Opshur, W. Va 
BraxtoD, W. Va. 
Webster, W. Va. 
Lewis, W. Va. 
Harrison, W. \'a. 
I loddridge, W. Va. 
Gilmer, W. Va. 
Calhoun, W. Va. 
Etoane, W. Va. 
Wirt, W. Va. 
Jackson, W. Ya. 
Mason, W. Va. 



To 
71 
7 2 
7:: 
7! 
71 
7."> 
76 
76 
77 
78 
78 
7'.) 



Correspondence : — 

Letter of J. M. Bennett, Esq., to lion. L. McKenzie 
Letter of James M. Brown. Esq., to Hon. Lewis McKenzie 



85 
91 



Statistics of the counties of Virginia through which the line of the 
Washington and Ohio Rail Road passes . . . . 

statistics of the counties of the State of Wesl Virginia through which 
the line of the Washington and Ohio Rail Koad passes, and those 
adjacenl thereto ...... 

Distances on the Washington and Ohio Bail Boad, from Alexandria 

Distances Bayed by the Washington and Ohio Bail Boad, from Cincinnat 
to eastern cities ...... 

The A I l;i ii line of ocean steamers ..... 

Statistics of the Cumberland coal trade, from its commencement . 

'The Cumberland coal trade, from 1M"J to 1872, Inclusive 31 years 

Settlers' and Immigrants' AidSocietj i>\' Norfolk. Virginia 



93 



94 
95 

'.17 

98 

99 

LOO 



THE \\ VSHIXGTOJi VXD n|||n RAIL l!"AI>. 



Tm Washington ind Ohio Rail Road Company, b corporation 
originally chartered by the General Assembly of Virginia under 
the title of "The Alexandria, Loudoun, and Hampshire Rail Ro 1 
Company," was at first intended to extend only from tl 
Alexandria, in the E \ inia, to the coal fields of Hampshire, 

then in said State now a county of West Virginia, a distance of 
180 miles. But the greal importance of a through and direct 
ction across the State- of Virginia and West Virginia, bi I 
Ohio River on the west, and the city of Wasl 

THE NATIONAL CAPITAL, 

with it" commodious roadstead at Alexandria, Va., on the east, in- 

this company to apply to the Legislature of the State of 
Virginia for authority to extend its line through that - to the 

suitable point within its limits on the Ohio. 
! islature i Virginia, on the L9th day of February, 

conferring upon this company the neot 
authority " nd and construct their railroad from the line of 

\ irginia, weetwardly, through the Stair of West Vir- 
ank of the Ohio River at any point between the 
1 awha and th< ndy Rivers, and to connect said rail- 

by branches, with the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail Road and with 
Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, and to construcl sucb 
brand fifty miles in length in anj • 

at." 

11 and < ( !ii<> Rail I! 

I made, and, on th< 

h cided upon I ' • I ' • W I , as the 

ition for it- terminus on the <>lii->. :i diet 
i ..in tidi I ' t Washington and 

ui'lria. 
- 



THE ROUTE OF "THE WASHINGTON A.ND OHIO RAIL ROAD," 
A\D THE RESOURCES OF THE COUNTRY THROUGH will' II 

IT WILL PASS 

The Washington and Ohio Rail Road, commencing at the city 
of Alexandria, taps the Alexandria and Washington Rail Road one 
and a half miles from Alexandria, by which all rail connection is 
made with the city of Washington, five miles distant, and by which 
means the transportation of freight and passengers is secured, daily, 
to and from the National Capital without change of cars. 

Prom the junction of the Washington and Ohio, and the Alexandria 
and Washington Rail Roads, theWasbington and Ohio Rail Road passes 
for twenty-five miles through the counties of Alexandria and Fairfax, 
draining an area of one hundred and fifty square miles. This portion 
of the line is being rapidly settled by purchasers from the Northern 
and Western States, and from Europe, and is being much improved. 
It thence runs for twenty-eight miles through the county of Loudoun, 
with a tributary territory of three hundred square miles, and passing 
by Leesburg, the county-seat, a town of nearly two thousand inhabi- 
tants. .Many new settlers have purchased lands in this county since 
L866, and it is estimated that the population is now about twenty- 
five thousand. Besides being one of the most productive agricultural 
counties in the State, it has huge deposits of limestone, marble, iron, 
and other minerals, only needing facilities of transportation to ren- 
der the working of them very remunerative. New turnpikes, and a 
branch railroad from Leesburg to Aldie, are in progress of de- 
velopment, which will add largely to the productive capacity of the 
jounty. 

A deposit of marble, of almost inexhaustible quantity, has been 
recently discovered, of a quality equal to the finest Italian, and a 
company has been chartered for working it on a large scale. This 
marble is only fifty miles from Washington City, and will be deliv- 
ered from the quarry to any building site in that city without change 
of cai 9. 

Leaving the western line of Loudoun County, the line enters 
Clarke County at the summit of the Blue Ridge, and traverses the 
county, in nearly a western direction, for fifteen miles. This is the 
finest wheat and corn growing county in the State, is well adapted 
to grazing, and has large and valuable deposits of iron ore of line 
quality. 

The county of Jefferson, adjoining Clarke County on the north, 
will be largely drained by this road. Leaving Clarke County, the 



line traverses Frederick County for aboul twenty-five miles, ci 

,11, \ Rail Road within n mile of the town of Winchester, or 
will | kiss through the town, and must successfully compete for a large 
share of 1 1 1 * - products of the Shenandoah Valley. 

I "int y has nearly fifty flouring mills, and Beveral bu< 
l'ul woollen mills, and the town of Winchester is becoming an import- 
ant manufacturing centre for agricultural and other machinery. In 
this county are Beventy-flve thousand acres of limestone land, capable 
of producing a million bushels of wheal ; and there are eight turnpike 
roads, connecting these lands with the town of Winchester. The 
population of Winchester is aboul five thousand, and the distance to 
Washington by this line only Beventy-flve miles, against one hundred 
and thirty-seven miles by the present route of the Baltimore and Ohio 
K I Road. 

r leaving Winchester, the line passes throngh Petticoat Cap, 

in tin- Little North Mountain, and reaches the summit of the Greal 

North Mountain at Lockhart's Gap with easy grades, crossing with 

an open cut of about twenty feet, and thence on, by < tapper's Spring, 

ailed "Rock Enon," and Capon Springs, to the county of 

pshire, in West V irginia. 

Capon Springs, in the productive valley of the Cacapon River, arc 

thirty miles from Winchester, and one mile from the line of this road. 

These Bprings arc too well Known as a place <>f resort to require a 

il description ; but when brought within four hours' ride of the 

nal Capital, being only ninety-five miles distant, will be greatly 

in repute. < 'appci - q ! be B) ! Bide of the 

mountain, and live miles Dearer to Washington, is second to nunc in the 
edicinal qualities, though now comparatively unknown. 
I lestined to rival, successfully, the mosl popular of 

our watering plaoi 

I Capon Springs, and passing through the Valley to a point 

one and a half miles beyond the town of Wardensville, the lim will 

3andy Rid one of the grandest aid most pic- 

in the mountains of Virginia. Near this point the 

famou l R appears, running under the mountain for two 

and a half miles, and reappearing as the Great < R 

i • River aid its tribul ims, the - 

B -i Mountain is reached, ami crossing ly a tunnel, and 'I- I 

\ i, of M ••• the < uty 

' Hardy, In the I itfa Branch Vall< \ Thi 

• ban the Vall< I > n<l. bai i 

alluvia] s.jii of great depth, i-. of unsu 



8 

been grown on the same lands for a hundred consecutive years, •with- 
out apparently diminishing the yield; and this Bplendid region is 
only needing a proper outlet for its productions, to become justly far- 
famed. Prom Moorefield the Ball imore and Ohio Rail Road is distant 
on t lie north nearly fifty miles ; and the uearesl railroad on the south 
is the Chesapeake arid Ohio, distant more than one hundred miles. 

Leaving the Valley of the South Branch, and crossing several 
minor valleys and ridges, the Alleghany Mountains are reached, and 
passed with a tunnel ; near which point a most splendid panorama is 
presented. Looking eastward, the whole country, from Earper's 
Perry on the north, to the Peaks of Otter on the south, is spread out 
in one grand view, every range of mountain being clearly seen and 
distinctly marked, and the pen of the most imaginative writer would 
fail to overdraw the picture: while to the south and southwest, the 
view is. if possible, more grand, though less extensive. 

<>n the western slope of the Alleghany, the first coal is reached — 
distant from Washington City one hundred and eighty miles; and 
from this point to the Ohio River, valuable beds, from three to twenty 
feel in thickness, are found, in every county of West Virginia through 
which the line will pass, viz.: Tucker, Randolph, Barbour, Upshur, 
Lewis, Gilmer, Calhoun, Roane. Jackson, and Mason. These coals 
are of a bituminous character, and most of them the best gas-coal in 
the country, furnishing an illimitable supply, and very cheaply worked. 
In the valleys of the head-waters of the Cheat River, known as Dry 
Fork, Laurel Pork, Shaver's Fork, and Glade Fork, are found forests 
of the original growth of oak, pine, chestnut, poplar, walnut, maple, 
cherry, and other woods, of the finest quality and in immense quan- 
tities. In Glade Fork maybe seen forty odd poplars on an acre, 
thirty of which will measure an average of eighty feel without a limb 
— 1 1 1 : i n \ of them a hundred — straight as a gun-barrel, and live feet 
through the butt. At other points, where the cherry trees preponde- 
rate, an acre may be selected having on it twenty cherry trees which 
will measure fifty feet to the first limb, are perfectly straight, and 
feet through the stump, and apparently (to the eye) as large at 
fifty feet from the ground a- at three feet. There is, in a single cove 
of the mountains, a group of sugar maples containing more than live 
t bousand trees of large size. The oak and pine timber is not excelled 
in quality by that of any other region in the United States, many of 

the pines being more than two hundred feet high, and six feet thick. 
The entire country, from the mount a ins to the Ohio River, i- covered 
with equally fine timber. The iron ore of this region is abundant, 
•mil of the besl quality, and water power, immense ami convenient, 



would furnish tlio means of driving foiling mills and othei 
unnumbered. 

n the cheat River, in Randolph County, the line traverses the 
oounties named above, and reaches the Ohio River without a tunnel 

ious obstruction, on .-i distance of one hundred and fifty miles. 
All the country west of the mountains abounds in coal and iron, 
and the most valuable timber, besides being one of the best natural 
grass regions anywhere to be found. The Boil is clay, naturally under- 
drained, and the hills clo nut wash. Cattle are kept unhoused, and 

i throughout the year, only requiring hay when the snow j ► 1 «.•- 
vents them iV.nu reaching the pasturage, which rarely happens. Blue 
grass is indigenous, and timothy grows most luxuriantly. The oil 
wells in Wirt and other counties are very productive, and many 
others would be opened it' proper outlets existed to market. The 

n known as the " Eternal Centre " produces thousands of barrels 

per day, and would furnish a very profitable employment for :i 
railroad. In Mason County, containing lour hundred and thirty 
square miles, all of which is tillable land, about one-fourth is pro- 
ductive bottom land, worth an average of fifty dollars an acre for 
farming purposes. In this county is a g 1 coal field, now being 

jively worked, and numerous salt wells, turning out, for. nine 
fnrn:e i thousand bushels per day. In the county of Lewis, 

with - a hundred and three male inhabitants over twenty-one 

. but one-seventh of the arable land is cleared. 
The distance from Washington City and Alexandria, by this line, 
to the Ohio River, is three hundred and twenty-five miles, and t<> Cin- 
cinnat . • • ; ojected line from Point Pleasant, four hundred and 

ty-flve miles. To Chicago, seven hundred and twenty miles; 

• Memphis, i w n hestei ad Danville, Ken1 ucky, eight hun- 

ind eight}' miles; shortening the distance over the shortest pre- 
sent i ncinnati, one hundred and thirty-five miles; to 
Chicago, one hundred and twenty-two miles; and to Memphis, fifty- 
four miles. I i la now finished to Hamilton, in Loudoun 
I >rty-four miles from Washington, and support > daily 
i trains and one freight train each way, and is now being 

. en miles bej ond. 
the route of the Washington and » Rail 
1 faint idea, not onlj of its value as a means f< 

i freights, but for the dovolopmi 
b of the mountains and vallej s 
ami fthe MissU rippi. 



10 

This company is desirous to prosecute its work to final completion 
at the earliest practicable period, but its Limited means have retarded 

its operations. 

Tlir funds required for its building, so far as completed, were fur- 
nished l>y I he State and people of Virginia; and the interest of the peo- 
ple residing in the counties, and those contiguous thereto, along its 
line, in the State of West Virginia, is shown by their county subscrip- 
tions, in making which they prudently and properly provided that 
they should be available only as the road reached their respective 
limits. 

To enable this company to take advantage of these subscriptions 
tin' city of Washington has been invited to make a subscription of 
one million dollars to its capital stock, said subscription to be made 
in the bonds of the cit}', running thirty years, with interest thereon at 
the rate of six per centum per annum, payable half yearly; the said 
sum of one million collars to be delivered to this company at the 
rate of sixteen thousand dollars for each and every mile of railroad 
actually completed, to the satisfaction of the authorities of said 
city, and certificates for the tax to be issued, so that the actual tax 
pa\er might finally become the owner of the stock, a provision which, 
this company thinks, ought to commend itself to the government and 
people of Washington. A large portion of the substantial citizens of 
Washington (property holders and business men), assured of the great 
advantages which will result to their city by the building of this line, 
gave their assent to said sub cription in a petition to the Congress of 
the United States, and in which the necessary authority was asked to 
enable them to make the subscription requested by this company. A 
bill for this purpose was subsequently introduced in the House of 
Delegates of the District of Columbia, but the Legislative Assembly 
adjourned without taking final action upon it. 

The importance of this road to the city of Washington, as opening 
up anew and shorter route, over those existing or projected, by fifty- 
four, fifty-eight, and ninety-five miles respectively, nearer to tide from 
the west and southwest, passing through a country abounding in coal, 
iron, minerals of all descriptions, timber of immense value, and fur- 
nishing to the federal metropolis every description of agricultural pro- 
ducl ion. thus reducing t he price of living, makes itof the first import- 
ance that the city of Washington should co-operate in this great 
enterprise; and whilst the city of Alexandria, with its fine depth of 
water, and its other facilities for the accommodation of a heavy busi- 
ness, must control, in a great measure, the bulk of the coal trade, 



11 

Washington, as the -rut of the General Government, will attracl the 
passenger traffic which the Washington and Ohio Rail Road 
will command. 

(hit of the subscription of one million dollars requested from the 
city of Washington, it is the purpose of this company to build an inde- 
pendent line of road to that city from the mosl suitable and convenient 
point on its present line. 

Attention is called t<> tin 1 sketches of the several counties in Vir- 
ginia and West Virginia through which the Washington and Ohio 
Rail Road will pass — showing character of soil, climate, minerals, 
timbers, water powers, adaptation to the culture of fruit, grapes, 
etc. 

Parties seeking investments in fine farming lands, grazing lands, 
water powers, timbered tract--, coal and iron lands, in the manufacture 
of salt, and in the culture of the various kinds of fruit produced in 
this fine climate, will not fail t<> Bee in t he count ry through which this 
road will pass a most inviting field for safe and profitable investment, 
rs of inquiry from part ies who may desire more minute informa- 
tion on these subjects, will receive prompt attention by addressing 
the President of thi< company. 
The people along the line are anxious for immigration, and gladly 
i a cordial welcome to all, whether from the States of the Union, 
Britain, or the continent of Europe, [n this connection refer- 
a made to the A Man Line of Steamers as affording regular facili- 
r the t ransportat ion of passengers bel ween Liverpool, England, 
and t ! of Alexandria and Washington, via Norfolk, Virginia, 

the information of parties who mav desire to co-operate in the 
bnilding of this great line it is proper to state the financial condition 
of the Washington and Ohio Rail Road on the 30th of September, 
1872, the end of the last fiscal 3 • 

line of road from Alexandria to Hamilton station, forty-four 
miles, including a short link connecting the Washington and Ohio 
R R i with the Alexandria and Washington, a large and substan- 
tial two-story brick passenger depot and frame shedding, large brick 
round house for locomotives, repair shops, car Bhops, 
and other buildings, turn-table, etc, occupying a square of ground 

ml three squares of ground (six acres) ii liately 

ent, with a water trout of eight hundred and thirty-eight feet. 

niently situated at Alexandria; passenger and freight houses 

Church, Vienna, Thornton, Berndon, Guilford, Parmwell, 

l , Clark's Gap, and Hamilton stations, including turn-tables 



1-2 

al Lcesburg and Hamilton, cost about the Bum of $1,800,000, the 
supposed present value of which is .... $1,335,000 00 

Liabilities, including $180,400 00, of 
the W. & o. R. R. bonds at par 19 77 

Deduct good assets on hand . , 123,731 92 

$404,707 05 

Leaving as security for the bond- 
holders the sum of .... 980,202 05 



- $1,33.5,000 00 



( IN< IWATI CHAMBER OF COMMER< E. 

In order to show the interest mainifested in this great work bj the 
Chamber of Commerce of the city of Cincinnati, and of the Board of 
Trade of the city of Washington, the resolutions adopted by these 
bodies are hereto annexed. 

THE WASHINGTON AND OHIO RAIL ROAD -REPORT T<> CHAM- 
BER OP COMMERCE— INDORSEMENT OF THE PROJECT- 
SPEECH OF COL. WM. II. THIMBLE.* 

At the close of business hours on 'Change j-esterda}', the Coni- 
mittee to whom was submitted the aubject of the Washington and 
Ohio Rail Road, submitted the following report, which was unani- 
mously adopted : — 

CHAS. W. KnWLAND, 

President of Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce: — 
Y'Mir Committee, appointed to report on the subjed of certain com- 
munications presented by Dr. James C. Hill, of Alexandria, Virginia, 
showing the Washington and Ohio Rail Road to be a more direct 
route t ban any other to the tide-waters of the Potomac from the Ohio 
River, beg leave to say that they have examined this subject as care- 
fully a-- was possible without the actual surveys, and find the state- 
ments relative; to the road to be substantially correct; that it is the 
mosl direel route buill or projected, and possesses some advantages 
tor tins city that, no other railroad to the Atlantic seaboard has; and 
in recommending it to the favorable consideration of this body, and 
the i>ti.siiiex> community of this section of the State and city, we are 
governed by the same reasons that induced a former committee of 
this chamber to report favorably on the Virginia water-line between 
the Ohio and .lames rivers, which report received your most cordial 
indorsement. 
The Washington and ( Miio Rail Road, as projected and surveyed to 

* From Daily Cincinnati Enquirer of 2?tli October, 1870. 



18 

Point Pleasant, on 1 1 1 * • Ohio River, when completed, will tend t'> the 
opnient and Bupport of certain projected and existing improve- 
ments in which Cincinnati and other western cities are mutually in- 
ted. When brought to thi^ oity, it will give a more direct com- 
munication to St. Louis and other western cities than they now have 
to the Beaboard. Chicago will continue her existing relations with 
this city, because it will give a more direct outlel for her products 
than can be had byanj other route. It willgiv* the shortest railway 
communication between the Ohio River and the tide-waters of the 
Potomac, :it a point that is of mutual importance to .-ill the country 
interested in the water-line, commencing at the mouth of the Kanawha 
River At the mouth of this st ream the great bulk of the fut ure busi- 
: the Wes1 on the navigable streams of the same will be concen- 
i. and it is important that a main trunk line railway should be 
built from this point to the Atlantic seaboard. Nat hit has placed them 
nnectedly a^ to give all these points an almost air-line, and in a 
central position to the whole country. St. Louis, Cincinnati, Point 
l ml — in other words, t be Mississippi, the Ohio, and the Potomac 
— will be connected and linked in business relations by the buildiug 
of t 1 j i — road, <>n a 1 i n* • mutually beneficial to all. 

It will give to our commerce and manufactures the most important 

outlet to the Atlantic Beaboard, because the shortest railway trans- 

tion, being only three hundred and forty miles, 11 from the mouth 

of the Kanawha to Washington City and Alexandria on the Potomac; 

the depth of water at the latter place being enough for all practical 

purposes, with an abundance of cheap coal for the use of steamship 

. making it eminently adapted as a poinl for oceanic oommunica- 

' 1 1 the outside world. Being more in la nil than any other port, 

isceptible of being made more defensible in time of war, which is 

.orthy of consideration. The railway accommodations at 

irting point, Alexandria, are, and bid fair to be, of unsurpassed 

importance. Other connections and intersections of a valuable oha- 

*-% ill be had when the road is built and finished to Point Pl< 
1 through a country unsurpassed for health, beauty, and fer- 

tility, and abounds In timber, coal, iron, marble, slate, granite, 

. field, and garden too oumei oua to 
• it ion of it passes through a region of count ry 
butary to any other road, and i quently not running a 

improvement. In it-> com *e it touch 



14 

several important towns and cities, and runs almosl equally distanl 
between the Chesapeake and Ohio and Baltimore and Ohio Rail 
Roads. To the former it must ultimately be of great benefit lor its 
northern freight and travel. 

We herewith furnish a tabular statement of distances of the Wash- 
ington and Ohio Rail Road, as prepared by the engineer, and as 
published in the Daily Commercial of the 17th instant; also some 
approximated distances, as published in the Daily Gazette of the 12th 
instant, and the Enquirer of the L9th instant, on the distances of 
various ports of entry from Cincinnati: — 

Your Committee, after a careful examination of the claims of the 
Washington and Ohio Rail Road, as presented by her representative. 
Dr. Hill, beg leave to offer the following resolutions for the adoption 
of this Chamber: — 

Resolved, That cheap and quick transportation for the products of 
the interior of the country to the tide-waters of the Potomac and 
Chesapeake, is not only a necessity, but is demanded by the highest 
considerations of an enlightened public policy. 

Resolved, 'That, to secure this, additional direct lines of railways to 
the East, in which this city should have a controlling influence, are im- 
peratively demanded, not only as a means of procuring cheap freights, 
but of protecting our commerce generally from discriminations preju- 
dicial to it. 

Resolved^ That it will be to the interests of this city and section of 
the State, that every encouragement, both private and public, be ex- 
tended to forward the completion of the shortest and most central 
railway to this city from the tide-waters of the Potomac, and the 
capital of the United States. 

All of which is most respectfully submitted. 

JAMES P. TORRENCE, 
P. V. REID, 
JEFF. BUCKINGHAM, 
A. W. MULLEN. 

WASHINGTON BOARD OF TRADE— ANNUAL MEETING.* 

i 
The annual meeting of the Washington Hoard of Trade was held 

at the looms of the board last night, S. Bacon, Esq., President, in 

i he chair. 

Alter ;i few preliminaries had been adjusted, 

Mi. Bacon, from the committee to inquire into the propriety of re- 

* From Patriot, Washington, January 21, 1871. 



LS 

oommending to Congress the passage of an ac( to Bubmit t" the rote 
of the citizens of Washington the question whether they will con- 
sent to subscribe t<> the capital Btock <pf the Washington and <>hi<> 
Rail Road Company, to the extent of $1,000,000, submitted the fol- 
lowing report : — 

Tin- committee to whom was referred at the last meeting <>t' the 
board the action of the Board of Trade <>i* t lu- city of Cincinnati, rela- 
tive t" the Washington ami Ohio Hail Road, reporl : — 

That they have carefully examined the whole Bubjecl committed to 
their charge, and <\<k without hesitation, reporl that the intere 

ty and Bection have, in the Bpeedy completion of this road to 

i greater importance than any Bubject that has ever been 

ii- for action. We believe that the completion of this road to 

Cincinnati, from whence diverge railroads in everj direction, will 

the -am.- effect on the future prosperity of Washington and the 
adjoining cities that tin- Baltimore and Ohio Road has had upon 
Baltimore, the Pennsylvania Central upon Philadelphia, and the Erie 
on \rw York ; tor it is a fixed facl that all the cities of this country 
that have bad the enterprise to build railroads to connect with tin: 
teeming West have prospered in a ratio Beveral hundred per cent. 

than those who have laid dormant. 
We arc happj to Btate thai this locality is fasl becoming the '■nitre 
of more than one line of railroad : that we -hall soon have, your com- 
mittei tured, additional communication with the South by 

in. :tii> of the Washington, Fredericksburg ami Richmond Kail Road, 
with tin- Wesl by way of the Metropolitan Kail Road, ami with the 
East by means of the Potomac Kail Road; ami if the proper exer- 
tion is made to bring this Bubject before the people of this city, aid 
all due diligence i- made to complete this road to Cincinnati, we be- 

l will be of more advantage to the city than all the real of the 

before mentioned. The indorsement of the Chamber of Com- 
of the Queen City, and their examination ami knowled 

i that will -low out of it- completion to this city, is 

f the best guarantees that t his board can have of the feasibility 

mpletion and the great interests in the Bubjeot. 

^ i r committee has also examine. I House Kill V>. 1724, and the 

ipanying memorial t<> the Senate of the United States, praying 

for tie nie ; also the bill prepared for the subsequent 

of the city Councils, an. I fiml that the provision therein made 

mple guarantees to protect the interests of the 

of this city, the largest an. I most influential number of whom have 

i memorial. This i, sufficient evidenoe to your 



16 

committee that they are alive to the interests and future develop- 
ment of this city, and in recommending the passage of this bill they 
are l>ut reiterating the already expressed wish of the people. This 
will be simply placing this community in the position to decide for 
themselves this important measure, which, when completed, will give 
a permanently increasing value to all property in this locality, which 
is now to some extent affected by the want of facilities for commer- 
cial intercourse with the heart of the great Wist. Four committee, 
therefore, submit this report, with the following resolutions. 

(Signed) SAMUEL BACON, 

J. W. THOMPSON, 
WM. <i. METZEROTT, 
JOHN W. BOTELER, 
W. H. CLAGETT. 

Be it resolved, That, in view of the facts set forth in this report, it 
is for the best interest of this city to encourage, by every means at the 
disposition of the citizens thereof, the speedy completion of the Wash- 
ington and Ohio Rail Road from this city to the Ohio River, and 
1 hence to the city of Cincinnati. 

Resolved, That every effort be made to assist, as far as our limited 
means will enable us, Cincinnati and other western cities in the 
speedy completion of this, to them, to us, and to the nation, import- 
ant short-line improvement in communication with the capital of the 
nation. 

Resolved, That it is the best interest of this city that the Senate 
of the United States pass House JJill Xo. 1724, granting permission 
to decide, by a two-thirds vote at a general election, the propriety of 
subscribing to the capital stock of the said Washington and Ohio 
Rail Road. 

On motion, the report was accepted, and the resolutions adopted. 

On motion by Mr. Ball, a vote of thanks was tendered to Mr. J. C. 
Hill. i'\' Alexandria, Ya., for his assistance in furnishing statistics 
and data to the committee for their report on the Washington and 
Ohio Hail Road. 



WASHINGTON, D. C, 

Is situated near the head of tide-water, and of navigation, on the 
Potomac, one of the broadest'and most beautiful rivers in the Union. 

It contains many splendid public buildings, those erected lor the 
accommodation of the government being grand and imposing. 



IT 

Executive Mansion, the official residence of the President, 

- an elevated position li feet above the level of the Potomac. 

Capitol is on an eastern eminence, 72 feel ibove tide, one mile 

from the President's house. The War and Navj Departments are at 

end of the President's Park, and the Treasury <m its eastern 

line; the Patent Office, and the General Post Office Departments and 

tin- City Hall occupj central locations. The Smithsonian [nstitution, 

\ tional Armory, the Department of Agriculture, the Botanical 

G rdens, and the Arsenal lie south of " the Avenue," and the Navy 

Yard and Marine Barracks at the extreme eastern limit of the city. 

The Army Medical Museum i Late Ford's Theatn reat into 

t<- the public, as being tli<- scene of the assassination of President 

Lincoln. 

w shington contains many One parks, or extensive pleasure 
inds. That surrounding the executive residence i- beautifully 
imented; the Capitol Park, although extensive, is now being en- 
larged. 'I'll.- Smithsonian Institution grounds contain about 50 acr< 9, 
the Arsenal grounds have an extensive river from, and are growing in 
beauty. The National Observatory, one mjle west of the President's, 
it- park, and besides these there are numerous reservations which 
have been tastefully improved, and contribute to the comfort and 
• li of the met ropolis. 
\\ ashington is not without memorials in honor of the statesmen 
and - of the country; among these may be mentioned tin' 

it in- of Washington and Jackson, and the monument 
memory of Lincoln. 

Dist • of Columbia was formed by A I of the 

th July, lT'.'ii. That portion which constitutes it - present limits 
for that purpose t" the I State of 

ind. 

the Capitol was laid bj Washington (then 
P $ept. 18, 1793, and in 1800 the Beat of government \ 

from the city of Philadelphia. 
1 ed with 1 of Europe, Washington is still in 

In I 300 ilation was but 8210 ; in 1810 il 

17; in 1880, l 5,826 ; in 184 , 

and in I -To it had reached 109, 

future il 

will be com it • with the growth of the counti 

dornmenl 

n"l thousands of mechanics and 
ed in their improvement. I has manj One drh 



18 

:is the sent of the National Government, Washington has drawn to it, 
and will continue to attract, as permanenl residents, citizens from all 
parts "i' i he country. 

As tin- capita] of a great nation, Washington should enjoy superior 
railroad facilities. It is directly <>n the great line of travel from the 
north to the south, and in these directions the present lines afford the 
necessary accom modal ions. There is, however, no western out let , ami 
this inconvenience and impediment to the prosperity of this section of 
the country has long been experienced. 

Starting from the city of Washington and running in a western 
direction the Washington and Ohio Hail Road makes nearly mi air 
line in its passage to the Central West, through a country abounding 
in all the resources of productive wealth. Such a vast outlet to trade 
and business ought not to remain closed, and the importance of the 
earty extension of the road will doubtless receive the attention of the 
city authorities and people. 

GEORGETOWN, D. C, 

lies west of Washington, and is connected with it by permanent bridges 
over Rock Creek, a narrow stream. It is a place of considerable 
commercial importance on the Potomac at the head of navigation. 

By the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal it enjoys a heavy trade in coal 
from Cumberland, Maryland. It has several large flouring mills, and 
a population of 11,384. 

Partaking of the spirit of its enterprising neighbor, Georgetown is 
rapidly increasing its wealth and importance. 

ALEXANDRIA, VA. 

This city is situated on the west bank of the Potomac River, one 
hundred miles from the Chesapeake Bay, into which if Hows, and two 
hundred miles from the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the chief cities 
of Virginia, and is one bundled and nine miles b}- rail from the city 
of Richmond, the capital of the State. 

The streets are paved, well graded, and cross each other at right 
angles. It is lighted with gas, is abundantly supplied with pure 
water, and for health is not surpassed by any other city in the United 
States. From its elevated grounds on the west it commands an ex- 
tensive and beautiful view of the surrounding country and of the city 
of Washington, six miles distant, with which city and Georgetown it 
has hourly communication by steamboat and railroad. 

In 1860 its population was 10,000. This in 1870 had reached 



19 

bimated population now (1873) is fullj 16,000, which 
:i growing trade is Bteadily increasing. 

\ commercial point Alexandria enjoys great advanta 

Twenty-five yeara ago the products of the country tributary to it 
were brought t<> market by means of farm wagons and amall vessels ; 
but, with the introduction of railroads, these means oft ransportation 
have, to :i great extent, passed away, and to accommodate the can- 
it ly increasing productions of the counl ry the capacity of ae> era! 
Lines of railway are heavilj taxed. 

It has a fine harbor, the Potomac opposite the city being one mile 
wide, ami from thirty to fifty feet deep, and being supplied with large 
and commodious wharves, and extensive warehouses afford all the 
facilities required for commercial purpose -. 

It has several lines of railway, a canal, turnpikes, and steam com- 
munication with Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Y"iL, Boston, and 
\ folk. At Norfolk connection is made with the Allan Linc oi 
Steambbs to Liverpool, via Halifax. Nova Scotia, and Queens- 

town, I reland. 

It imports all the ^alt required for the Potomac fisheries and for 
interior consumption, the large quantities of lump plaster required for 
icultural purposes; and. on the completion of the railway lines 
now in course of construction, there is no reason why, in addition 
to ' st of the supplies required for this market, and now im- 

ported from foreign countries through other ports, should nol 
imported from the producing countries directly into Alexandria. 

I • buildingof a street railway, to pass through the main busii 
f the city, from the Washington Bteamboat wharf, and uear 
the d«| ots of all the railroads running through and out of Alexan- 
dria, with a term in us out side of it s western limits, will be commenced 

ply in the spring, and completed by the first of Jul} of the present 

THE H L8HINGTON \ M» OHIO R Ml. ROAD, 

\\ Inn completed to the Ohio, will bring the vast trade and travel of 

that the Potomac at Alexandria and Washington. This 

'ion t<» Hamilton, Loudoun County, forty-four 

miles from Alexandria, and over this short line the demauds of the 

mtry require the runn ■•> 'Inly passenger trains and 

■ nil way. 



20 



THE ORANGE, ALEXANDRIA, AND MANASSAS RAIL ROAD, 

One of the great improvements of the State, has its terminus at 
Alexandria. This great public work is completed and in successful 
operation to the city of Lynchburg, in Virginia, one hundred and 

.uly-one miles southwest from Alexandria, where it connects with 
the Virginia and Tennessee Rail Komi, which 1ms extensive railway 
connections with the States of Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia, Ala- 
bama, and other Slides South. 

In addition to two branches owned by this road, one running to 
Warrenton, in Fauquier County, 50 miles from Alexandria, and one 
to Earrisonburg, Rockingham County, 130 miles from Alexandria, 
t he Orange, A Lexandria, and Manassas Rail Road is now building, and 
will shortly complete, a railroad from Lynchburg, its present ter- 
minus, to Danville, in Pittsylvania County, f>.H miles south from 
Lynchburg, through a rich country, in which the whistle of the loco- 
motive Iims never been heard. 

Prom Danville it is proposed to extend this road to Statesville, an 
important point in the State of North Carolina, on the Western North 
Carolina Rail Road, by which route the Orange, Alexandria, and Ma- 
nassas Rail Road will form connections with all the railroads in that 
direction, through the State of North Carolina, to South Carolina, 
< leorgia, Florida, etc. 

With the completion of the Danville connection, the Orange, Alex- 
andria, and Manassas Rail Eoacl will own and operate 356| miles of 
railway ; and it is due to the management to say that no great road 
in the United States is better, if as well, managed. 

THE ALEXANDRIA AND FREDERICKSBURG RAILWAY. 

This ioad was completed and put in operation within the pas! six 
months, and by it Alexandria and Washington and the cities north 
of them enjoy additional rail communication with the city of Rich- 
mond and points south. This line passes through the lower eastern 
sections of the tide-water counties of Fairfax and Prince William, 
which have heretofore never had any railroad facilities whatever, and. 
while greatly contributing to the material development of that por- 
tion of the State, will add to the business interests of Alexandia, 
which is the natural market for all that section of country. 

TIIK ALEXANDRIA AND WASHINGTON RAIL ROAD 
[a a valuable link between the cities of Alexandria and Washington, 

3ix UlilC8 in length, by which these cities arc brought into close and 



21 

frequent commanication. At one mile and a half from Alexandria] 
the Washington and Ohio Rail Road has formed a connection with 
this road, and oi er it it - passengers and freight, for Washington < !ity 
and points north and west, pass daily without change of oars. The 
Baltimore and Potomac Rail Road Company lias very recently com- 
pleted, and now uses, a substantial railroad bridge, one mile in Length, 
which Bpans the Potomac at Washington. 

THE Ml X WIHMA CANAL 

! ren miles long, and extends from the terminus of the Chesapeake 
and Ohio < 'anal at G iwn, D. < '.. to Alexandria. It crosses the 

Potomac River at G »wn by means of a magnificent aqueduct, 

ami, in connection with the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, is largely 

• d in the transportation of coal from Cumberland, Aid. The 
fine facilities afforded at Alexandria, for its Btorage and shipment, 
enable this city to enj >y a liberal share of this important trade, a-* 

>wn by the coal at the wharves, and the shipping taking in 

it. 
The high price of coal in England has recently developed a oew 
trade in the shipment, from Alexandria direct to A spin wall and San 
Francisco, of largo supplies of Cumberland coal for the use of the 

steam lint i in the China and Japan seas ; and in case these 

I - are maintained, it is reasonable to Buppose that, in a short 
time, the ports of the West Indies, Central and South America will 
ipplicd, in a b by shipment from Alexandria. 

m \\i r\< it RES 

Alexandria presents greal advantages a- a location for manufac- 
turing establishments of all hinds. 

low price of citj property, and the great demand for manu- 
factured article-, offer inducements to men of capital and enterprise 
iblish tanneries, iron foundries, Bhoe factories, machine -hops, 
mills, brewerit ■; factories for making agricult ural implements, 

. bi as, barrels, matches, etc; railroad car works; 

fertilizer and cement mills; >, woollen, and 

; and. in short, every branch of mechanical ind 
would prosper in the hand- of enterprising men with capital. 

It ha- now iii successful* im cotton factory em- 

ploy ii two iron foundries and machine shops ; t hree 

learn planing mills and sash factories; om 
inerj , tie State, w itb a branch in tl»< 

team breweries, on< \ isive; two brick works, om 



22 

rated by steam ; two lime-kilns, which fail to supply.the demand ; one 
pottery; two extensive steam Bumac mills; one ship yard, operated 
on a limited scale; an additional one. with liberal capital and energeti- 
cally conducted, would meet with good Buccess ; one establishment 
for the manufacture of mineral waters, and four furniture manufac- 
tories, in addition to numerous other branches of industry. It has 
two daily newspapers, two tri-weckly, and four weekly. 

The machine shops and locomotive and car works of the Orange, 
Alexandria, and Manassas, and the Washington and Ohio Kail Roads, 
at Alexandria, are very extensive and complete. These works give 
employmenl to a large number of mechanics and artisans, and the 
work they turn out will compare favorably with that of similar estab- 
lishments in the country. The Potomac fisheries (long noted for their 
value), and the Chesapeake oyster trade, afford employment to a very 
considerable portion of the population of Alexandria. 

The educational advantages of Alexandria are well known. It has 
excellent male and female seminaries and schools. Its public schools 
are not excelled by any similar institutions in the country. The whole 
number of graded public schools during the year ending August 31, 
1872, was 6 ; number of teachers, 16 ; number of pupils, 983, of which 
there were 612 white, and 371 colored; total cost of education, 
$1)884 72. At the same time there were 32 private and parochial 
schools, with l'J55 pupils, of which there were of white children 933, 
and .'522 colored. There were fully 85 per cent, of the white, and 70 
per cent, of the colored children between the ages of six and sixteen 
at BChool last year. 

Alexandria has twenty churches of various denominations, all of 
which are generally well supported. 

With all these ami the other advantages it is known to possess, it is 
not too much to say that Alexandria i- growing in wealth and im- 
portance, and offers a line field to enterprising men of capital from 
the other sections of the country and from Europe. 

ALEXANDRIA COUNTY, VA. 

This county embraces a small extent of territory on the wesl side 
of the Potomac River, north of the city of Alexandria, and south and 
opposite to the cities of Washington and (Jeorgetown. Its greatesl 
length is about ten miles, and its width about four miles. Exclusive of 
the city of Alexandria, the scat of justice, which is embraced within 
the limits of the county, the population in 1870 was 3185. 

The great railway lines, between the North and South, pass through 



this county a distance of nix miles, and the Washington and Ohio 
Rail Road traverses it, in a northwest direction, :i distance of about 
eight mil 

It has two good timipikes, several county roads, and three Bplendid 
bridges (over the Potomac) leading t<> the Districl oities. T 
. and are kepi in order by the United 5 
nment. These advanl jether with its proximity to the 

markets of Alexandria, Washington, and Georgetown, render the lands 
in this county very valuable as truck farms or market gardens, 
riti> >s affording a demand for .-til the crops thai are produced. 

Within thi> past sis years extensive brick works have been put in 
operation on the lands in this county contiguous to what is known as 
the I."N«. Bridge, and supply, in n great measure, the material used 
in the great improvements now being prosecuted in the city of Wash- 
e enterprises have increased the population of the county 
fully 2000 -inee last oensu when it was reported .-it 3185. 

\ on estate, the seat of the lat< Washington Parke 

1 d of bis Bon-in-law, the lal G al Robert E. Lee, is in 

ounty, "ii the hills overlooking the city <u" Washington, three 
miles distant. This splendid domain, embracing over one thousand 
of land, is n>>\\ the property of the United states government, 
and is used as a National Cemetery for the burial of the Boldi 
the Union who fell in the late terrible conflict between the Stal 

forth : i r i « 1 South, and as such is an object of great interest to 
from this and <>t her lands. 
in Al- xandria county there are eighl public schools with nine 
I2S pupil-, r.17 white and 226 colored, the whole 

- • \- per cent, of all persons between the 

<>l" five an>l twenty-one years attended Bchool during the vear ending 
I, 1872. 

FAIRFAX COUNTY. VA. 

mac River and the county of Alexandria bound it on the 

the com uidoun lies on the west, and Prince William 

th. It is drained bj t be Potomac Rii er, 

th. I I .ml their t rilnitai i< 

Rail Road passes 1 brough 
county in a w< »U rlj d the Alexandria and I 

n, ami the W ashiugtou and 
• it- noi tbeastern bordi 
fled with bills and level lands. The soil, when 
iel much of 



24 

land has been, and is now being, reclaimed and put under a more 
thorough .system of culture and proves to he highly productive. 

Within tlif past few years this county has had the benefit of a con- 
siderable immigration from the Northern and Western States, and 
from England, and as a consequence has undergone material improve- 
ment in the better tillage of the lands. Many new buildings have 
been erected, new farms opened, and miles of new fencing inclose 
fertile gelds which the late war caused the owners to abandon. 

The population of the county in 1870 was 12,952, an increase over 
that of I860, notwithstanding the late war, audits effects on its pros- 
perity. 

Fairfax C. II., the county seat, fifteen miles from Alexandria and 
Washington, lies between the Orange, Alexandria, and Manassas Hail 
Road and the Washington and Ohio Hail Road, three and a half miles 
from the former, at Fairfax Station, and four and a half miles from 
Vienna, a thrift}' village and station, on the latter. Its loeation is ele- 
vated, very healthy, with the purest atmosphere and water, and is sur- 
rounded with a lovely panorama. Here are located the usual county 
buildings where Washington had often appeared, and where his origi- 
nal will is preserved. The population of the Court House is 500 or 000. 

Mount Vernon, in life the home of the great Washington, and 
now his resting-place, is situated on the Potomac, ten miles below 
Alexandria, in Fairfax county, is kept in fine state of preservation, 
and by steamer is frequented daily by many visitors, foreign as well 
as native, and is also accessible by a good road from Alexandria. 

The Theological Seminary of Virginia is in this county. This 
institution, in a properly organized form, was opened in Alexandria 
in 1823. In 1827, after the erection of the first building, it was re- 
moved to its present site, a hill 250 feet above the level of the Poto- 
mac, two and a half miles west of Alexandria, and seven miles in a 
direct line from Washington, overlooking both cities and the river. In 
February, 1854, a charter was granted by the Legislature of Virginia, 
and soon afterwards new buildings were erected. These consist of 
the Library, St. (Jeorge's Hall, Aspinwall Hall, Bohlen Hall, and 
Meade Hall. The buildings, besides these, are the Professors' houses 
and the Chapel. Within a few hundred yards of the Seminary is the 
Diocesan High School. The legal style of the corporation is " The 
Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary and High School in Vir- 
ginia." The post-office address is "Theological Seminary, Fairfax 
County, Virginia." 



The Washington and Ohio Rail Road enters Fairfax County eight 
miles from Alexandria, and, in a northwest direction, passes through 
it a distance of abont twenty miles. It has five stations in this 
county, via.: Palls Church, Vienna, Hunter's Mill, Thornton, and 
Herndon. 

Falls Church, an old settlement, takes its name from the "Greal 
Falls" of the Potomac, a few miles distant. The village still con- 
tains its earliest " Bettler," in the shape of a venerable but well-pre- 
1 brick edifice, known as Falls Church. This building is held 
eat veneration by the people; the material used in its construc- 
tion was imported from England prior t<> the Revolution ; Bince then 
through three foreign wars, and one slight "home un- 

Falls Church is in the township of that name, which contains 2461 
inhabitants; is on the Leesburg, Alexandria, and Washington Turn- 
pike; is Beven miles from the county seat, and by the Washington 
and Ohio Rail Road ten miles from Alexandria and Washington. 

Within the past few years this village and the adjacent country 
show marked improvement. Many new buildings of modern Btyle 
. and immigration and the improved tillage of the 
s<»il contribute to the general prosperity. Many officers and em- 
ploye's of the government, Btationed at Washington, reside in this 
vicinity, and pass daily to and from Washington over the railroad. 
An extensive nursery is located at Falls Church, and during the past 
: and passenger business of the Washington an 1 Ohio 
Rail Road, at this . lias increased fully one hundred per c< at. 

t he preceding \ ear. 

n i- in Providence township, Bve miles west of Falls 
Church, and fifteen from Alexandria and Washington— a new village, 
and one of the fruitsof the railroad ; it contains about 150 inhabitants. 
In this vicinity the land is equal to any on the railroad easl of I 
I The village contains about twenty houses, three Btores, one 

plow foundry doing a g I bus isl and saw mill, blacksmith, 

ii and harness makers 1 establishments, churches, and a new 
public Bchool-house having fifty scholars. 

The 1 County • in :i late 

nnml B. M. Collins, formerly of 13 ' unty, 

\ I van i a, HOK ll m, near \ 

d his ez| 
land il' h milk and honey, but thi 

| nd main 



26 

County land. Being only fourteen miles from Washington and Alex- 
andria, these fertilizers are cheap and abundant. He gets lime at 
Vienna Station, on Washington and Ohio Rail Road, two miles from 
Ins farm. 

■• The Doctor has named his place ' Pleasanl View,' and it is a most 
agreeable home — good society, and much better climate than here. 
The air south of the Potomac range of hills is unusually bland and 
free, even in mid-winter, from sharp, long-continued freezing keen- 
ness, enabling them to commence work very early in the Bpring, and 
to continue often till New Fear's. 

"Labor is abundant at moderate prices, and quick sale lor every 
kind of produce at Washington, and but one day required to attend 
market and ret urn. 

" Buyers of land are steadily coming in, and about thirty deeds are 
recorded at the courtdiouse eveiy month. Good farms, with neces- 
sary buildings, bring about $30 per acre, it cannot be many years 
before land so advantageously situated, with its unusual market 
labilities and salubrious climate, will rival the best Pennsylvania 
farms in value. 

•• Fairfax has three railroads, crossing the county about ten miles 
apart, and two more in prospect. From about fifteen stations pas- 
sengers can take the cars daily and go to any part of the United 
Slate-. With SO many advantages to recommend it. the Doctor ad- 
vises all persons who think of changing location to come and examine 
the many excellent farms for sale in Fairfax and the adjoining coun- 
ties." 

II i vi i.k's .Mill Station is three miles west of Vienna, and eighteen 
from Alexandria and Washington. Apart from the postal facilities 
afforded at this station, this place is of but little importance. The 
people of this neighborhood use Vienna Station as their depot for 
receiving supplies and shipping their productions. 

THORNTON Station, twenty-one miles from Alexandria, is located 
in a thickly wood, d country, which supplies vast quantities of railroad 
tic-, rails for fencing, lire-wood, ami timber. Within the past three 
year-, two cargoes Of Ship timber for the French market were cut and 
shipped from this depot to Havre, oia the Washington and Ohio 
Kail Road to Alexandria. 

Three miles north from Thornton's [a the village of Drainsville, tin 
country surrounding which supplies business to the railroad to some 



-7 

: . but, lying upon a good t urnpike leading to Alexandria, Wash" 
i. and Georgetown, the people of that portion of the county 
illy find it more convenient to use the turnpike in the transpor- 
tation of their products to market. The lands in this neighborhood, 
enienl to the station, were purchased a few years ago by an 
English gentleman, who has expended a considerable sum of money 
in the development of this portion of the country. 

Hi rndon Station, twenty-three miles from Alexandria, is an impor- 
tant point "ii the Washington and Ohio Rail Road. Within :i compara- 
tively short period a considerable number of thrifty farmers have 
settled in this vicinity from the Northern and Western States. It has 
the advantage of a good Bupply of fine timber lying within easj 
of the depot. This is being converted into hogshead Bhook, 
which arc shipped to Cuba with profit to the manufacturer. A large 
tor in tins material, tV.nu the State of Maine, recently made a 
purchase of timbered lands three miles from the depol ; and tin- 
low price at which these lands were purchased enables him to place 
the manufactured article in Cuba at a less figure than thosi 
in the same trade in Baltimore and other northern cities. 

l<s the heavy shipments of fire-w 1 from this station to Alex- 
andria and Washington, the supply necessary for the use of the Wash- 
:i and Ohio Rail Road is considerable, and affords a ready 
market for all that is offered. Berndon is the shipping point for the 
of Dranesville, Chantilly, Spring Vale, and 
'hi. 

A paper prepared by II C. William-. Esq., on fruit culture, 
the inducement in this branch of rural industry thro 

ountry he has sketched, is here introduced. 
•r William- i- a native of th'' State of G nd was an in- 

• planter in the State of Tet ! er many years' 

-.. Tiniieiit of the United State- he retired to a farm 
1 on w Inch he had previously 

bich time | 1850) he ha- I ■■ 

1 that he undent I thi b in all 

n>l wish it informal ion t ben 

I from him, to which 
I : — 



28 



DESCRIPTIVE SKETCH OF THE COUNTRY FROM ALEXANDRIA 
TO THE BLUE RIDGE— MINERALS— SOILS— ADAPTABILITY TO 
GARDENING AND FRUIT CULTURE. 

I now proceed to comply with your request to furnish some notes 
on the geological features of the section of country traversed by the 
Washington and Ohio Rail Road, between Alexandria and the Blue 
Ridge, with the minerals that occur in the several formations ; also, 
the soils derived from the rocky strata, and their influence in fruit 
culture. Strictly speaking, this would confine me to the counties of 
Fairfax and Loudoun ; but in the general way in which I purpose to 
treat the subjects before me, my remarks will be found applicable to 
all the northern counties embraced in what is popularly called the 
Piedmont region of Virginia. 

If a line were drawn across the State from any point on tide-water 
to the western border, the same geological formations would be 
passed over. It is, however, proper to observe that the tertiary 
formations in the southern part of the State cover a large area, 
while north of Fredericksburg they are scarcely developed. There- 
fore, on the line of the road, as soon as we reach the first terrace or 
secondary banks of the Potomac, we are on rocks of the primordial 
series. These rocks are seen at Arlington Old Mills, and Carlin's 
Springs, and are a prolongation of the strata which cross the Potomac 
between the Little Falls and Georgetown. 

Near the eighth mile-post on the road we enter upon another series 
of rocks overlying those we have passed. These rocks are talcose 
slates and schists, which crumble down readily, forming a soil of 
peculiar characteristics. The direction of the strata has a general 
parallelism with the Blue Ridge, and an average breadth of fifteen 
miles. This belt, for convenience sake, will be called in this paper 
the Talcose schist formation. It extends to Herndon, and has an 
average breadth of fifteen miles. 

The soil formed by the disintegrated schists has a loose texture ; 
is unctuous to the touch ; is light, in the usual meaning of the term ; 
and warm. It varies in color in proportion to the iron contained in 
the rocks, and its different states of oxidation. It parts freely with 
water, and, where the surface drainage is good, which is seldom 
otherwise, there is the required " bottom heat," an object never out 
of view with professional horticulturists. 

There are but few minerals occurring in this formation. Talc and 
soapstone are found in some parts of Fairfax County. Kaolin or 
porcelain clay is abundant. It is first seen in the ridge below Falls 



29 

Church, near the eastern outcrop of this formation. East of Vienna 
there are several beds of more or less thickness, alternating with the 
layers of schists, and extending along the road for nearly the eighth 
of a mile. The greater portion of the kaolin is a pure white ; it is 
in a state of great fineness, and may contain a very small percentage 
of talc. Submitting specimens to Dr. Antisell, while chief chemist 
to the U. S. Agricultural Department, he gave it as his opinion that 
it would be of great value in forming a glaze for the higher class of 
porcelain ware. This substance, not being required for any purpose 
in a country where agriculture is nearly the only pursuit of the 
inhabitants, has so far remained unused and unnoticed ; but its 
locality being within half a mile of a railway station and flourishing 
village, it cannot be supposed that it will much longer be unap- 
propriated. A plentiful, healthful country, with a good site for 
buildings for manufactories, on a railroad, fourteen and a half miles 
from a commercial city, with hourly trains to the national metropolis, 
wood and water convenient and abundant, with such advantages as a 
mineral of such value, should invite enterprise and capital. 

The next change in geological features takes place near Herndon. 
Tt is a trap-ridge, and, beyond yielding some basalts and minerals 
usual to such intrusions, possesses but little interest. It however- 
appears to mark the eastern boundary of the next-named formation. 

The T7*iassic or Red Sandstone formation spreads out from the 
ridge just passed to the foot of Catoctin Mountain, a distance of 
about twenty miles. Here the rocks of the Blue Ridge system first 
appear, and, having a dip to the south, a synclinal valley is formed, 
along which the calcareous breccia, or "Potomac marble" of former 
days, is strewn in large masses. This material, once so popular for 
architectural purposes, is, by the discovery of other marbles, now 
only valuable for being converted into lime. 

The Red Sandstone is one of the most durable building stones in 
the country. The Smithsonian Institution in Washington is built 
of it. On the line of the road it is often seen in layers of different 
thickness, easity separable, and should the demand in the city con- 
tinue, the quarrying and sending it there will doubtless at no distant 
day be a profitable business. 

The disintegration of this sandstone forms a dark or reddish-brown 
soil. It is open and porous, and, like all soils in which silex prepon- 
derates, admits the free sinking of water. Having less capillary 
attraction than clayey soils, where deep tillage has been practised, 
droughts rarely injure growing crops. 

In this formation few minerals have been discovered. Some years 



30 

since there were a number of beds of the sulphate of baryta scat- 
tered through the counties of Fauquier and Prince William, but they 
have been exhausted. Traces of copper are found in some of the 
layers of this formation, but are' not to be regarded as indications of 
any valuable deposit. 

The next formation as we ascend the country west of Leesburg is 
composed of the various rocks peculiar to the Blue Ridge. These 
consist of gneiss, clayslate, hornblende, greenstone, quartz, mica, 
talcose schists, epidote, and chlorite. The rocks appear in great 
confusion, in consequence of the pitching and folding of the strata 
during the upheaval of the Blue Ridge and its outlines. Asa con- 
sequence of such violent action and subsequent denudation and 
disintegration of the various rocks, the Piedmont region is emi- 
nently diversified by its minor ridges, numerous foot hills, gentle 
undulations, and level plains. 

A soil derived from the disintegration of so many kinds of rocks, 
rich in the elements of vegetable nutrition, would at once establish 
its claims to a high reputation for fertilit}*. The undecomposed rocks 
yet on the surface or slightly imbedded, containing lime^ potash, and 
the oxides of iron, constitute a reserve in the soil which annual crops 
will not exhaust for ages. The crumbling down of the gneissoidal 
rocks in this section leaves on the surface small whitish pebbles, 
forming what are locally called "hominy soils." These pebbles con- 
tain at least twelve per cent, of potash. The potash is liberated 
slowly by atmospheric agencies, and, being washed down the sides of 
the hills, shows its effects in a luxurious vegetation. The small 
barren knolls, instead of being waste places on the farm, are really 
its supporters of fertility. The soil also contains lime, magnesia, 
and the oxides of iron, and is capable of growing a great variety of 
plants. The coarse particles of which the soil is composed prevent 
washing, which is eminently suggestive of deep tillage. Every 
farmer who plows deep one year is but bringing up matters to be 
pulverized and form fertilizing ingredients for his next year's crop.* 

Although the great source of wealth in the Piedmont range consists 
in its multiplied agricultural capabilities, it is not destitute of valuable 

""These remarks will be better understood by the following quotation from 
Baron Liebig : "A thousandth part of loam mixed with the quartz in the new 
red sandstone (Friassic), or with the lime in the different limestone formations, 
affords as much potash to the soil only twenty inches in depth as is sufficient 
to supply a forest of pines growing upon it for a century. A single cubit of 
feldspar is sufficient to supply a wood covering a surface of 2G,910 square feet 
with the potash required for five years." 



31 

minerals. The calcareous breccia has been already mentioned. A 
quarry of marble is now being opened on the lands of Mr. Carter, on 
Goose Creek, in Loudoun County. Its texture and purity adapt it to 
the highest purposes of statuary. Crystallized marble of excellent 
quality occurs on the lands of Mr. George S. Ayre, near Upperville. 
On Dr. A. S. Payne's farm, near Markham station, in Fauquier County, 
marble again appears, the outcrops forming large ridges and hills, 
indicating an inexhaustible deposit. It is penetrated by crystals of 
epidote, and contains other mineral matters often disseminated as a 
coloring, which give to polished specimens a beauty and variegation 
equal to any other mar-ble in the world. 

As a building stone where a smooth surface is not desirable, the 
quartzite slates at Thoroughfare Gap cannot be excelled for strength 
or durability. The layers are of thicknesses from a few inches to a 
foot or more. These can be taken out of the strata of any desired 
length and breadth, and are as smooth on the sides as if they had 
passed through a mill. 

Years ago a bed of iron ore was worked at the foot of the Catoctin 
Mountain, hear the Point of Pocks on the Potomac. Indications of 
the existence of iron are frequent along the base of that mountain. 

Asbestos has been discovered in Loudoun County. Ochres are 
abundant in the Piedmont range. 

GENERAL FEATURES OF THE COUNTRY. 

The countiy rises from tide water to the Blue Ridge, the summit 
of which by the railroad surveys has an altitude of one thousand and 
eightjr-four feet. The surface is rolling; gentle declivities affording 
ample means for surface drainage. Small streams abound, and springs 
of purest water are on nearly every farm. When necessary to sink 
wells, water equal to that of the springs is procured at a depth seldom 
beyond the lifting power of the common pump. There are no marshes 
or stagnant pools to cause malarious diseases. 

Forests of the original growth are yet interspersed through the 
country. In many places a growth of young pines shows that the 
lands have become partially deteriorated by continued cropping, and 
have been turned out to rest and recuperate by a natural process. 
After sustaining a forest of pines for about twenty years, oaks and 
hickories begin to appear, proving that the lands are again becoming 
fitted for the plow. This course of exhaustion and renovation has 
sometimes been censured by superficial critics, yet it has its beneficial 
effects. It preserves a just balance in heat and moisture, keeps the 
country supplied with wood, shelters growing crops from strong winds, 
and preserves the health of the country. 



32 

As we ascend the country complaints are less frequent in regard to 
losses by late spring and early autumn frosts. This is verified by my 
experience of thirty years as an orchardist. Though but four hundred 
and fort}^ feet above the level of tide, it is a very rare occurrence to 
lose a crop of fruit by late spring frosts. On some of the elevations 
of the Piedmont region aged persons are to be found who will say that 
they never knew the fruit to be destroj'ed by late spring frosts. Per- 
haps their memories may be sometimes at fault, but after being an 
observer of meteorological phenomena for the Smithsonian Institution 
for some j'ears past, and reviewing the observations of my son for the 
same purpose made on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge, at an ele- 
vation of about nine hundred feet, I must say that the disasters from 
this cause are as unfrequent as in any other part.of the United States. 

With this brief preliminary sketch I will now endeavor to give the 
fruit-growing capabilities of the country, and incidentally to state the 
inducements to increased culture. 

SMALL FRUITS AND GARDENING. 

The lands adjacent to the railroad are well adapted to the cultiva- 
tion of all the small fruits and vegetables peculiar to the climate. The 
strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry are indigenous plants. The 
latter when cultivated attains a large size and high flavor. If any of 
the varieties on the nurserymen's catalogues possess any merit over 
our wild variety when cultivated, I have not been able to discover it. 
Large quantities are annually gathered from the old fields and woods 
and sold in the Washington market. Other wild fruits are held in 
high esteem, and are sold at good prices ; whortleberries, chinquepins, 
chestnuts, walnuts, and hickory nuts may be mentioned as always 
being in demand. 

Large fields of strawberries are cultivated, and yet the supply falls 
short of the demand. Raspberries, gooseberries, and currants have 
an increasing demand; indeed, of these small fruits it may be cor- 
rectly said that the public appetite "grows by what it feeds upon." 

In garden vegetables, everything required for the most sumptuous 
tables is grown to perfection. Here, as in other cases, to enable per- 
sons not acquainted with the productions of our soil and climate, I 
will mention the following vegetables grown by the most simple 
means of cultivation : Peas, beans, potatoes (both Irish and sweet), 
watermelons, canteloupes, pumpkins, squashes, cucumbers, cabbages, 
turnips, radishes, asparagus, spinach, celery, tomatoes, peanuts 
(Arachishypogea), leeks, and onions. 



33 

For raising poultry, this is excelled by no other country. 

For truck farms, or large gardens devoted to the cultivation of 
vegetables to supply the city markets, the lands adjacent to the rail- 
roads are admirably adapted. The undulating surface of the country 
gives every desired exposure ; the higher grounds being warm and 
dry, and the intervales retentive of moisture, and cool, the skilful 
gardener can be at no loss for the proper location of his plants. It 
may be said, also, that effective modes of irrigation might be intro- 
duced at a moderate expense. The great accession to the population 
of the city of Washington within the last ten years, without a corre- 
sponding increase in the several classes of producers, has led to high 
prices in the vegetable market, and caused the supply to be drawn 
from a distance. It cannot be supposed that such a state of things 
will become permanent, for high prices are too great incentives to 
production to permit it to become so. A change has already begun, 
and the increased railway facilities will have the effect of reducing 
the expenses of market gardening. Heretofore this business was fol- 
lowed only by persons in the vicinity of the city, who used their own 
means of transportation. Relatively their numbers have not in- 
creased, and the necessary supply must reach the city by railroads. 
The cheap lands adjacent to the railroad offer superior inducements 
in this direction. 

Since my first acquaintance in the city of Washington, market 
gardening has been a lucrative business, and I could mention the 
names of many persons who have acquired handsome fortunes by 
following it. 

Since the restoration of peace the following villages have sprung 
up, being one of the first results of the successful operation of the 
Washington and Ohio Rail Road : Vienna, Herndon, Guilford, Farm- 
well, and Clark's Gap, all of which have become business centres of 
neighborhood industries. At these places country produce meets a 
ready sale to persons engaged in a traffic between the city and country. 
Literally, a farmer or a gardener may have a market at his own door. 

The cheapness of living and the proverbial health of the country 
have induced a number of mechanics to settle in the villages to follow 
their vocations. Of one only I shall speak. At Vienna, where at the 
close of the war there were only a few half-destroj^ed houses, and one 
family residing, there are now three stores, two wheelwright shops, 
two blacksmiths' shops, a steam saw and grist mill, a chair-maker's 
shop (about to be established), a foundry and plow manufactory. 
As an instance that mechanical pursuits can be followed successfully 



34 

in the country, I will state that during the present year a large order 
for wagons was filled in Vienna for persons in business in Washing- 
ton City. 

The attractions of the country, with its healthfulness and cheapness 
of living, now that these are opened by railway conveniences, are begin- 
ning to lie appreciated by officers of the public departments in Wash- 
ington City. A number of these have their residences near the sta- 
tions, going to and returning daily from their places of business at a 
less annual expense than forty years ago they could have reached their 
offices and returned home had they resided in Georgetown, not two 
miles distant. A public officer in Washington, with a salary of $2000 
per annum, may expect to pay $500 for a house, or $2000 in four 
years. If living in the country, and going to and returning on an 
annual ticket, for $60 per annum for four years, or $240, there would 
be a saving in the item of house rent alone of $1760, a sum sufficient 
to pay for a small tract of land and erect a comfortable cottage 
on it. 

In other respects, the saving that could be effected by keeping one 
or two cows, raising poultry, growing garden vegetables and fruits, 
if for private use only, the expense of supporting a family would be 
reduced to a nominal sum. 

FRUIT GROWING. 

With the preceding excursive remarks, I will now proceed to the 
consideration of fruit culture. How far the foregoing may be re- 
garded as necessary and proper to a correct understanding of the 
subject, it is not my province to judge. But if it should be charged 
that I have spent too much time in elucidating irrelevant matters, 
and prolixity of style, I can but say in my defence that I did so to pre- 
sent the matter in all its bearings, to enable persons not having a 
personal knowledge of the country to form proper conclusions. They 
can determine when and how far it can be connected with other pur- 
suits, or whether to engage in this business alone. 

Virginians engaged in agricultural pursuits, like most other people, 
have given their attention to the cultivation of those staples which 
entered into the commerce of the country. Until late years, there 
being no home market for fruit, farmers contented themselves with 
growing only such as were required for family use. In the progress 
of the age this thing has passed away. Now, by the growth of our 
neighboring city of Washington, we have a demand in excess over 
production, with the assurance which quick and safe transportation 
give, that when we shall be able to produce a surplus over home con- 



35 

sumption it can be disposed of in distant markets at remunerative 
prices. 

Every experienced pomologist who has travelled through Virginia 
has been favorably impressed with the fruit-growing capabilities of the 
State. Such was the opinion generally expressed by the members of 
the American Pomological Societ}', which held its last biennial meet- 
ing in Richmond, the State capital, in September, 1871. That meeting 
was attended by delegates and members from every State and territory 
in the Union, with few exceptions. Though this State was but par- 
tially represented in the exhibition of fruits, it was a subject of general 
remark that in the quality and variety of our peaches, apples, pears, 
quinces, plums, grapes, and figs no other State in the Union could com- 
pete with us. 

The Potomac Fruit Growers' Association, composed mostly of 
citizens from other States who have settled in the vicinity of Wash- 
ington in years past, held its first annual meeting in that city in last 
September. The display of fruits on that occasion, the first for nine- 
teen years, was such as to excite the wonder and astonishment of all 
experienced and scientific pomologists present. The collection of 
grapes and pears was pronounced by Mr. John Saul, whose name 
carries authority with it on such subjects, to be the largest in variety 
and best in quality that had ever been exhibited in the United States. 
There were also fine assortments of peaches and apples for the season. 
In the course of the discussion, a member, formerly a citizen of New 
York, stated the exalted opinion of Mr. Charles Downing in regard to 
fruit culture in this State.' - 

After stating opinions of such high authority, it may be thought 
that I should rest the case. I should do so if I were addressing 
pomologists, who have an opportunity to investigate the peculiarities 
of our soil. But having had thirty years' experience in fruit culture 
in this locality, and within the last five years having assisted in plant- 
ing trees and vines on the red-sandstone formation, and in the Pied- 
mont region, I will devote the remainder of this article to the discus- 
sion of the varieties proper to be planted, some of the results I have 
attained, and probably better success that yet awaits those who will 
engage in this interesting department of rural industry. 

1. Of the Apple. 

When selections have been judiciously made, every part of the State 
has produced this fruit in perfection. I shall confine mj remarks to 
the district herein sketched. My original selection was made witli the 
best lights before me thirty years ago. It should be borne in mind 



36 

that was about the time that fruit culture in the Northern States was 
attracting increased attention, but it did not assume a definite shape 
until the great work of the late A. J. Downing, published in 1845, gave 
method and science to an art variously practised. My object was to 
make an orchard in the first place to supply my family, and send the 
remainder to market. I endeavored to secure a succession from the 
earliest summer to the latest winter-keeping varieties. The selection 
was good, and has been improved by other sorts as they have since 
risen into favor. The first planting was in the spring of 1843, but 
additions were made for several years afterwards. The location was 
on a farm through which the Washington and Ohio Rail Road now 
runs, one mile from the village of Vienna. The elevation is four hun- 
dred and forty -five feet above the level of tide-water. 

Residing in Washington at the time, I was under the necessity of 
trusting the management of the trees to persons not accustomed to 
the management of orchards. It was not until 1853 that the trees 
gave a good crop, and that year, at the first fair of the Virginia State 
Agricultural Society, I was awarded the premium " for the largest 
and best variety of apples adapted to general cultivation in the 
State." 

The following varieties I can confidently recommend for cultivation 
in the districts before noticed as the Talcose slate and Triassic for- 
mations. 

Summer Varieties. — Red Astrachan, Early Bough, Yellow Harvest, 

Porter, Gravestein, Red-streak, Hagloe, Summer Queen, Maiden's 

Blush. To these may be added Edward's Early, a very promising 

new sort. 

Fall Varieties. — Wetherell's White Sweet, Tulpehocken, Benoni, 

Rambo, Fall Harve}', Fall Pippin. 
Late Fall and Early Winter. — Wine, Bullock's Pippin, Roman Stem, 

Smokehouse and Hix's White. 
Mid Winter. — Smith's Cider, Genet, Winesap, Porame d'Api or Lady 

Apple. 
Late Winter and Spring. — Tewksbury, American Pippin or Grind- 
stone, late Russet. 
Few persons who make orchards for profit would be willing to 
plant all these varieties. All are of the highest merit, and I give the 
list more to be a guide to the best varieties of their season than as 
recommending them for a single orchard. Summer varieties are 
seldom profitable, for the reason that peaches and pears, which ripen 
with them, are preferred for the dessert. For drying every orchard 
should have a few of tlie higher flavored sorts. 



37 

The following varieties (mostly of southern origin) deserve extensive 
trial, and are recommended to those who are fond of experimenting and 
testing the merits of fruits, viz : Limber-twig, Ben Davis, Equinately, 
Hall's Red, Meade's Kuper, Milan, Nickijack, Shockley, Mattamus- 
keet, and Cannon Pearmain. Experiments, however, had better be left 
to nurserymen, and after the orchards are made of the most popular 
varieties at the time, additions can be introduced from those which 
give most promise. For market the following fall and winter varie- 
ties meet the readiest sales : Rambo, Smokehouse, Bullock's Pippin, 
Smith's Cider, Genet, Winesap, Pomme d'Api, and Tewksbury. 
These will give a succession from the first killing frost in autumn till 
the following June. 

All the varieties named in the first list succeed well on the soils 
derived from the metamorphic rocks of the Piedmont region. There, 
however, it would be well to substitute the Milan, London Pippin, 
and the Albemarle Pippin, for the Roman Stem, American Pippin, 
and Late Russet. 

For the New York market and for shipment to England, the Pomme 
d'Api and Albemarle Pippin command the highest prices. By the 
, Neiv York Tribune of November 16th, 1872, the Pomme d'Api is 
quoted at from $6 to $9 per barrel, while $3 is the highest price 
offered for other varieties. It here keeps well till February, and then 
is in perfection, but, unfortunate!}', its great beauty and attractive- 
ness cause it to be sacrificed long before it should be used for the 
dessert. 

An erroneous opinion prevails in regard to the time required for a 
young orchard to come into bearing. It is usually stated to be ten 
years. In that time I am confident that I could make an orchard 
with trees two years old from the graft pay all expenses, and for the 
land they stood on if not held at an extravagant figure. I know that 
this will be considered a bold assertion. But I am certain that, when 
my practice shall be tested by well-established principles of vegetable 
ph}-siology, I shall be acquitted of any charge derogatory to the 
character of a veteran orchardist. I have made known my mode of 
training young trees to but a small circle of friends, and insisted that 
they should satisfy themselves whether there was any humbug or 
necromancy in it. This opportunity enables me to give my theories 
a wider range, and I do so for the purpose of inducing others to en- 
gage in fruit culture to augment their own wealth and benefit man- 
kind. 

In the first place, if I have a well-grown stocky tree two years from 
the graft, I head it back to the lowest w r ell-developed buds, of course, 
4 



38 

on the previous year's growth ; I shall omit all other things in regard 
to setting the tree, supposing they will be properly clone, and only 
give what may be regarded as new in practice. The object in view is 
to start two branches near the ground, say between two and three 
feet. The 3'oung tree is to be watched, and the whole of the vital 
forces thrown into the two branches, stopping the growth of all other 
shoots. Some trees will make a vigorous growth the first year, but 
it is better to take two years in forming the next bifurcation than to 
do so in one. The following season the two branches are to be shortened 
back about four feet from the ground. On each of these branches an- 
other bifurcation is to be formed in the manner of the preceding year. 
There are now four limbs to constitute the framework of the future 
tree, which will require little pruning for several years. The fourth 
year after planting it will usually begin to bear fruit, and as the roots 
are well established before it has much head, it will soon make up 
lost time, and continue to grow and bear fruit. Low heads are re- 
quired in this climate, and short stems always make the most healthy 
trees. The several deflections of the sap from a vertical line promote 
the ripening of the wood and the early formation of fruit buds. In 
this climate ti'ees in good soils are inclined to run too much to wood, 
and I plant trees for fruit, not to grow timber. I shall follow this 
practice until I quit the business. 

Another very good way is to head back, and let three buds push to 
form the future head. The other mode is preferable. 

This article being intended for the information of emigrants, it is 
an object with me to give such details as will enable such as desire 
to form orchards to do so at once. There are several large nursery 
establishments in the State, conducted by gentlemen of probit}' and 
intelligence, from whom all the desired nursery stock can be obtained 
on favorable terms, and strangers will find it to their interest to 
patronize them. 

Before leaving the subject of the apple, it is but proper to observe 
that it is the opinion of many distinguished pomologists that the 
belt of country which in this as well as in general use is called the 
"Piedmont region," embracing the outline and numerous foot-hills 
of the Blue Ridge, constitute the best apple-growing district in the 
United States. The special recommendations are, first, the elevation 
and consequent exemption from loss of crops by late frosts in spring, 
which both meteorological data and experience confirm ; and, secondly, 
by the decomposition of the metamorphic rocks, which put lime and 
potash in the soil — mineral elements necessary to insure full develop- 
ment. Trees planted even in soils where the surface has been ex- 



39 

hausted by superficial tillage, will grow and flourish for nearly a cen- 
tuvy. This is seen on manj' farms in this region, where old trees 
have stood, " whereof the memory of man runneth not to the con- 
trary." Shipments of apples have already been made from this part 
of the State to England, where they command the highest price. While 
I fully accord with the opinions of the pomologists from other States, 
as before stated, with the reasons for my concurrence, I must say 
that it is so easy a matter to prepare the soil for trees by composts, 
that persons not living within this highly-favored region need not 
despair of successfully growing the apple. 

2. The Pear and Quince. 

The same soil which is required for the apple is also required for 
the pear. Here it succeeds to perfection. For varieties no other 
part of the United States is more celebrated, and probably there is 
not any other place more highly favored by exemption from the 
blight. I have cultivated the pear since 1845; the Bloodgood, the 
Bartlett, Beurre Diel, Flemish Beauty, Urbaniste, Seckel, and Winter 
Nelis ; and none of these have shown any signs of that much-dreaded 
disease. Other cultivators have introduced new varieties, and have 
been rewarded to their entire satisfaction. This can but prove to be 
one of our most remunerative fruits, whether grown on dwarfs or 
standards. 

The quince, also, attains fine size, and would doubtless be a profit- 
able fruit if grown for the New York market, where it is always in 
demand. 

3. The Peach. 

This has been the fruit par excellence of the Washington market, 
and, before the war, was grown in immense quantities. During that 
unfortunate period many fine orchards were destroyed, and no new 
ones were plante_d. For several years past there has been a compara- 
tive scarcity, and the supply had to be brought from a distance. But 
the orchards are now coming into bearing, and their fruit will have 
the preference for its superior size and freshness. 

On our talcose, warm soils it attains the highest perfection. I have 
had specimens to weigh eleven and a half ounces, and equal in flavor 
to any I have eaten, grown in the States of Tennessee, Arkansas, and 
Texas. It is in season from the 25th of July to the 10th of October, 
or rather these are the extremes of the season for the best table varie- 
ties. The market for our home-raised sorts usually begins about 
the first of August. When properly cared for the fruit comes into 



40 

bearing very early. This year I sold some fruit from trees planted 
one year from the bud in April, 1870. I raised the trees myself, and 
several of my friends who planted from the same nursery had their 
trees to come into bearing, as also my younger son, who has his or- 
chard on the Blue Ridge slope. His trees were from the nursery of 
Mr. John Saul, in Washington City. Our mode of training is to 
shorten back the first two years, and after that time to pursue a sort 
of shortening back and renewal S3'stem. Our object is to keep the 
heads low, and not too much bearing wood. Notwithstanding all my 
efforts to keep my trees low, some are now fifteen feet high, with twelve 
feet diameter of head. I used no compost but wood ashes, and culti- 
vated the orchard in potatoes, peas, and beans. The ground for the 
potatoes was composted with sawdust and other vegetable matters, 
with lime to decompose them, and the potatoes when prepared for 
planting were whitened with ground gypsum. The largest specimen 
of the crop of 1870 weighed in Alexandria one pound and twelve 
ounces, last year about a pound and a quarter, and this year some 
were again weighed in Alexandria, and notwithstanding the great 
drought, one weighed one pound and three ounces. In all this 
there is nothing extraordinary, though the newspapers in publishing 
these facts considered it an unusual success ; if so, it is as much 
within the grasp of others as myself. The peach tree is not that 
short-lived tree that it is further north. At the exhibition of fruits 
by the Potomac Fruit Growers' Association I had peaches grown on 
a tree twenty-seven years planted, and it looks good for ten more 
crops. Here the disease called the " Yellows" which, as well as the 
" Pear Blight," I maintain is caused by a defect in the soil in connec- 
tion with atmospheric agencies, is wholly unknown. Trees are subject 
to the attacks of the borer, but a little care at the proper time saves 
loss. Here I will observe that neither this nor any other orchard 
tree is ever killed by severe cold. 

In the treassic or red sandstone belt the peach does equally well, 
and the soil is admirably adapted to its cultivation. A stranger judg- 
ing from the soil might give preference to the treassic, but having 
had some experience on it also, I have only to say that with good 
feeding with composts, in which wood-ashes constitute the basis, both 
formations, as I have alluded to them, are equal. 

Probably on the Blue Ridge slope, where the summer temperatuve 
is slightly less than in the preceding, the peach may not Iry a shade 
of difference be either as large or as finely flavored as in lower and 
warmer regions, yet from specimens which I have seen there is much 
to encourage its cultivation. It is now receiving increased attention. 



41 

Believing, however, that it will be a remunerative crop, I supplied my 
son, who has settled near Piedmont, in Fauquier County, with trees 
for an orchaYd, and so far they have given auspicious promises. 

4. Cherry. 

The last, though not the least, yet the most neglected of all of our 
orchard fruits, is the cherry. Not more than three or four good va- 
rieties have ever found their way into the Washington market, and 
not even in quantities sufficient to remove an ancient superstition 
that it is an unwholesome fruit. This prejudice was strengthened by 
the fact that the illness which brought on the death of President Tay- 
lor was caused by his having eaten some acid cherries and milk after 
an exposure for some hours to a hot fourth of July sun. A better 
ray of light is dispersing that darkness, and I find people ready to 
buy, eat, and preserve my Knight's Early Black, Black Tartarian, 
Graffion and Downton Biganeau, without effecting an insurance on 
their lives. So far as the question of health is concerned, I can say 
from an enlarged experience for one-third of my lifetime, that good 
ripe cherries are no more prejudicial to health than strawberries, lus- 
cious ripe peaches, or a Bartlett or a Seckel pear, and may be indulged 
in with the same impunity. 

Throughout the whole line of the Washington and Ohio Rail Road, 
to which these remarks are applicable, the cherry flourishes in a higher 
state than in any other part of the United States with which I am ac- 
quainted. From seeds of the mazzards, introduced .by the earty set- 
tlers, trees have sprung up, often by the roadsides, which attain great 
age, and are so frequently interspersed among the indigenous growth 
that a person not acquainted with its history would never suspect it 
to be a wanderer from Asia. There can be no better proof of its. 
adaptability to this section than the facts stated. I find these wild- 
ings to make excellent stocks for the better varieties. Thus propa- 
gated, the grafts grow freely and begin to bear fruit. This tree is 
often found growing among the young pines of the "abandoned 
lands," and really, from every indication, appears to prefer soils re- 
duced by cultivation to fresh lands, provided that the location is on 
high, warm soils. 

From my sales last season, though I did not send any to the Wash- 
ington market, I feel warranted in recommending the extensive culti- 
vation of this fruit. Even in the small villages of Vienna and Fair- 
fax Court House, the demand at twelve and a half cents per quart 
was more than the supply. It was not convenient to send them to 
Washington, where double that price would have been given. The 



42 

new process of "canning" has brought the cherry into great request; 
and, thus preserved, it is not only one of the most beautiful but one of 
the most delicious fruits for desserts. The facility of raising it, and 
certainty of the crops, will soon make its extensive multiplication one 
of the prominent features in Fairfax fruit culture. It will hold its 
superiority, for neither north nor south of this county can it be grown 
with equal success. Planters should not look to home market alone. 
We can, while the season lasts with us, take the lead in this fruit in 
the markets of Philadelphia and New York, and probably Boston. 

With the cheap and safe fruit crate, a recent invention of Mr. E. B. 
Georgia, of Clifton in this county, which crate I have used with en- 
tire satisfaction, cherries can be sent by express from Alexandria to 
New York in less than ten hours, arriving there as fresh and as sound 
as when gathered from the tree. 

5. The Grape. 

This fruit, which of late years has attracted so much attention 
throughout the country, has not been neglected in this part of the 
State. It is now extensively grown for the Washington market. Be- 
fore the late internecine disturbances a few vineyards had been com- 
menced, and had begun to justify the reasonable expectations of the 
proprietors. Since the restoration of peace it was one of the branches 
of industry to which early attention was given, and numerous vine- 
yards have been planted in the counties of Fairfax, Prince William, 
Loudoun, and Fauquier, while the extensive vineyards of M. B. Buck, 
Esq., in Warren County, in operation before the wai*, may be regarded 
as settling the question affirmatively that Virginia possesses unri- 
valled claims to pre-eminence. Even in this northern rJart we have 
all the climatic requirements of a wine-producing country. Nature 
has declared her purpose, but we have been slow in comprehending 
her lessons. On our low and moist lands, under the shade of forest 
trees, the Fox grape (vitis labrasca) flourishes with great vigor and 
productiveness. This is the parent of the Catawba, Isabella, Hartford 
Prolific, and the Concord, the most esteemed native sorts for table 
use. On the gentle rising grounds and stony knolls, with a full expo- 
sure to the sun, the summer grape (vitis estivalis) forms thickets, over- 
powering the undergrowth and giving most profuse crops of fruit. 
This species runs into innumerable sorts or subvarieties, of which 
the Clinton, Norton's Virginia, Herbemont, Alvey, Lenoir, and Deve- 
reux are the most celebrated. These are excellent table varieties, 
and from them, doubtless, the future wine grapes for the sections of 
country in which the Scuppernong will not succeed, are to be derived. 



43 

When the experiments of raising seedlings from these cultivated wild 
varieties shall have progressed as far as those which produced the 
Concord from a wild type, we may hope for as favorable results. In 
that case we can but have grapes that will form wines adapted to 
popular use. 

My experience with the vine has been more that of a collector 
and experimenter with wild varieties than anything el%e. In 1857, 
under an engagement with the agricultural branch of the Patent 
Office, I visited the mountains in the State of Arkansas and the 
northern portion of Texas, to collect the native grapes which early 
explorers of those regions had so often eulogized in glowing terms. 
I returned, and the collection was placed in the hands of propa- 
gators. At the close of the }'ear, when I was absent on another mis- 
sion to Chihuahua, for the wine grape cultivated at El Paso, the 
original intention of the Department was changed from that of test- 
ing the merits of the grapes thus collected by the Department to 
that of scattering them broadcast over the country, where they came 
to nothing. A few in my private collection, however, escaped de- 
struction during the war, and, after the few tests to which they 
have been subjected, I can truly say of them, in the language of 
Mr. George Hupman, the great Missouri vigneron: "They are dan- 
gerous rivals to the Norton's Virginia," which he considers a wine 
grape of highest merit. Of late years I have paid considerable 
attention to our home wild varieties, and have in my small collection 
hybrids between the Fox and summer varieties, as well as some 
summer sorts of which I entertain sanguine hopes. These facts 
should encourage us to give increased attention to vine culture. 
Virginia for this purpose furnishes, equal to any place I have ex- 
plored, all the requirements of the vine, which appear to be a deep 
sandy soil, rich in potash, with a full sunn}' exposure. Such situa- 
tions are found everywhere from tide water to the summit of the 
Blue Ridge. Our summer varieties are so little subject to blighting 
diseases, and are found to vary the quantity of their fruits with the 
season in so slight a degree, that the cultivator may rely with cer- 
tainty upon the fruition of his hopes. Late spring frosts never do 
any injury to the vine, and our seasons are long enough to permit 
the thorough ripening of fruit and wood. 

I do not feel myself called on to prove by statistics that vine cul- 
ture has been remunerative to the proprietors of vineyards. Success 
in this, as well as in all other things, depends upon attention, industry, 
and good management. Yet, so far as my knowledge extends, no one 
is retiring in disgust, while every season of planting brings out hosts 



44 

of new beginners. Information in vine culture is more sought from 
me than is asked in any other department of fruit culture. 

Whether we shall ever succeed in making delicate, high-priced 
wines, is a problem, in my opinion, to be solved by chemistry. Out 
hopes for this end are very encouraging. We, already, by the sim- 
plest process form a cheap and wholesome beverage, which the more 
it is used wiM be the more popular. In social customs sudden revolu- 
tions are not to be expected, and it may be years before native wines 
will take the place of alcoholic drinks; but no revolution ever will 
take place unless a beginning is made. 

To lessen the evils of intemperance, which can only be done by 
the substitution of the non-intoxicating mild beverages for those now 
in use, is worthy of the highest aim of the philanthropist. While 
prosecuting this noble purpose, the vineyardist may felicitate himself 
that in augmenting his earthly stores he is conferring benefits on 
mankind. Vine culture will do this, and a mild climate, genial soil, 
a healthful and plentiful country invite laborers. 

Appendix A. 

Exhibitors of Fruits Cultivated in the State of Virginia at the Biennial 
Meeting of the American Pomological Society at Richmond, Va.,Se])t. 1th, 
1871. 

Franklin Davis & Co., Richmond, Ya. 193 varieties apples; 31 varieties pears ; 
2 varieties peaches. 

H. R. Robey, Fredericksburg, Ya. 6 varieties grapes ; 23 apples ; 22 pears. 

Wm. 0. Hurt, Bedford Co., Va. 51 varieties apples. 

H. C. Williams, Fairfax Co., Ya. 37 varieties apples; 11 pears; 12 cultivated 
grapes ; 6 varieties native grapes. 

Henry B. Jones, Brownsburg, Rockbridge Co., Ya. 110 varieties of apples; 
10 varieties pears ; 10 peackes. 

G-. F. B. Leighton, Norfolk, Ya. 8 varieties pears, including magnificent speci- 
mens of the Duchess d'Angouleme, some of which weighed 30i ounces ; also 
Seckels very large. 

Tyree Dollins, Albemarle Co., Ya. 135 varieties apples. 
George W. Purvis, Nelson Co., Ya. 5 varieties seedling peaches; 1 of apples ; 
1 plate of Catawba grapes. 

C. Gillingham, Fairfax Co., Va. 18 varieties apples, and 21 varieties pears. 
J. W. Porter, Albemarle Co., Va. 4 varieties of grapes ; 11 of apples. 
Potomac Fruit-Growers' Association, Washington, D. C. 18 varieties of 

apples ; 54 of pears ; 3 of grapes, and 1 of figs. 

D. 0. Munson, Fairfax Co., Va. A fine collection of apples and pears. 



45 



Appendix B. 



Fruits exhibited by the Potomac Fruit-Growers' Association in Washington, 
D.C., September 3, 1872. First Annual Exhibition. 
This was a magnificent display of fruits cultivated in the vicinity of Washing- 
ton City. For brevity the names of the fruits are omitted. Suffice it to say that 
the list contained everything to satisfy the most fastidious taste, and salable as 
market fruits. The following is an extract from the official report :— 
William Saunders, Superintendent of the Experimental Garden of the Agricul- 
tural Department. 50 varieties of pears; 40 varieties of grapes — -the merits 
of which have been fully established. 
John Saul, Washington. 38 varieties pears ; 15 grapes, fully tested. 
H. C. Williams, Fairfax Co., Va. 36 varieties apples ; 12 varieties pears ; 5 
peaches ; 12 varieties cultivated grapes ; 6 indigenous varieties ; 1 quince ; 
1 almond, approved for 30 years in the Washington market. 
S. H. Snowden, Fairfax Co., Va. 27 varieties apples; 7 varieties peaches. 
Judge J. H. Gray, Fairfax Co., Va. 1 quince ; 3 varieties grapes ; 1 variety 
apple, and 3 varieties of peaches. 

R. A. Phillips, North Arlington, Va. A luscious and abundant collection of 
Concord grapes. 

H. Amidon, Washington, D, C. Devereux and Tona grapes. 

Dr. R. P. Darby, Uniontown, D. C. Portugal quince, apples, pears, peaches, 
and grapes, very fine. 

Captain H. D. Smith, Arlington, Va. Fine peaches and grapes. 

John T. Bramhall, Fall's Church, Va. 6 varieties grapes. 

Chalkley Gillingham, Accotiuk, Fairfax Co., Va. 26 varieties apples ; 7 varie- 
ties peaches ; 15 varieties pears — popular, approved varieties. 

D. 0. Munson, Fall's Church, Fairfax Co., Va. 11 varieties peaches ; 2 varie- 
ties apples. 

J. B. Clagett, Silver Spring, Md. A splendid collection of grapes ; 14 varieties 
of pears. 

Col. S. E. Chamberlain, Waterford, Loudoun Co., Va. 11 varieties apples ; 4 
varieties peaches. 

Appendix C. 
1 iYtrte Grapes for North Carolina and Virginia. 

Saunders, of Washington, D. G, named Lenoir and Devereux as desirable 
wine grapes for the mountain region of North Carolina and Virginia. All Ameri- 
can wines have been made from the Fox family of grapes, which are not adapted 
to wine making. The vitis estivalis possess the true characteristics of wine mak- 
ing — the grapes named belong to this species — both with regard to sugar and 
bouquet. The reason why they have not been grown is because they do not ripen 
north. But they can be grown on the Virginia and North Carolina hills, and 



46 

should be for wine. It has long been supposed that we have not the European 
oidium here; but we have it, though comparatively innocuous. Our mildew 
is unlike it, being caused by excess of moisture, while the European mildew 
(oidium) is caused by want of moisture.* 

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA., 

Was formed in 175*1 from Fairfax, and named in honor of the Earl of 
Loudoun, commander of the military affairs in America during the 
latter part of the French and Indian war. 

Among its records are ancient deeds and curious wills, and the 
minutes of the county courts held in the " reign of George the Second, 
by the grace of God King of Great Britain," etc., and the name and 
signature of James Monroe, late President of the United States, often 
appear appended to his official acts as a magistrate of the county. 

Loudoun is one of the counties embraced in the class known as the 
Piedmont counties, lying between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the 
" tide-water counties" of Virginia. 

It is bounded on the north hy the Potomac River, east by Fairfax 
County, south by Prince William and Fauquier Counties, and west by 
Clarke County, Virginia, and Jefferson County, West Virginia. 

Its western limit extends along the top of the Blue Ridge from 
Ashby's Gap to the Potomac opposite Harper's Ferry, and the Poto- 
mac washes its entire northern bounds for forty miles. 

Its area is 525 square miles. Its population 20,724, of which 5691 
are colored, and chiefly employed as laborers. Its mountains are the 
Blue Ridge and its spurs for twentj--three miles on the west. The 
Catoctin Mountain, a low range parallel to and sixteen miles east 
of " the Ridge," and a low range called " the Short Hill" also parallel 
to and two miles east of "the Ridge" rising suddenly near Hillsboro' 
and running north nine miles to the Potomac, on the other side of 
which river it crosses Maryland and goes into Pennsylvania, where it 
rises into the " Kittany Mountains." 

Between the Blue Ridge and the Catoctin is the far famed " Lou- 
doun Valley." 

The surface of the entire county is rolling, well drained, and without 
any swamps or miasmatic marshes, but stands drought well, as has 
been proved by the last three years. 

The. water courses are the Potomac and its tributaries. Goose 
Creek, Beaver Dam, the Catoctin and its forks, Little River, Tusca- 

* Proceedings of the Thirteenth Session of the American Pomological Society, 
held in Richmond, Va., Sept. 6, 7, and 8, 1871, page G8. 



47 

rora, Sycolin, Broad Run, Sugar Land, Horse Pen, etc., all bold 
Streams, pervading the whole county. 

Besides these mainstreams there are few if any farms in every field 
of which there is not a spring or running water of pure and wholesome 
quality. 

The soil of course varies, but blue grass is indigenous to the whole 
county, while timothy, clover, and other grasses ai*e raised in luxuri- 
ance. All the cereals are produced in abundance, but corn is the 
largest and best paying crop. 

Being eminently a grass country, grazing was, before the war, one 
of the largest and most profitable interests, and is now being revived 
more and more yearly, w r ith the advantage of being little over a 
day's drive, or a few hours' run by rail, to the Alexandria, George- 
town, or Washington Markets, with easy, certain, and quick access to 
Baltimore, Philadelphia, or New York. 

The Dairy is becoming an important interest, from the adaptation 
of the rich pasturage and springs to it, and the facility of shipping the 
milk and butter to market, while the " Old Dominion" cheese factory, 
at Hamilton, is turning out, yearly, a large stock of its manufacture, 
which is becoming one of the favorite cheeses in the markets. 

Fruits of all kinds have long been cultivated for domestic use, and 
the product of the plum, cherry, peach, and apple trees of Loudoun 
have elicited and deserved the praise of all who have visited the 
county. All kinds of fruit are produced in great perfection ; increas- 
ing attention is being paid to this culture. The grape grows here as 
naturally as in the Rhine valley. The slopes of the Blue Ridge, of 
the Catoctin, and of" the Hills" are specially adapted for vineyards. 
The grape, as fruit, or in wine or brandy, is an interest of increasing 
value. 

Sheep thrive well and pay well here, and there are a number of the 
best stocks; the Blue Ridge mutton cannot be surpassed in England. 

The Temperature being even, rarely hotter than 85° or colder than 
8° Fahrenheit, and very seldom reaching either of these extremes, the 
summers are not oppressive, and the winters are open. Cattle graze 
until Christmas, and much plowing is done in January. 

About one-third of the county is in timber. Limestone underlies the 
greater part of it, and lime for fertilizing is easily accessible to every 
farmer, and acts most happily on the soil in conjunction with clover 
and plaster. 

Iron, copper, and barytes have been found and mined. The Poto- 
mac Furnace, opposite the Point of Rocks, was started half a century 



48 

ago, and has been supplied with ore from the adjacent lands. The 
iron interest offers a large field for profitable investment. 

On the western slope of the Catoctin Mountain is a deposit of white 
marble, extending north and south for over ten miles, with a breadth 
in some places of 2000 feet, cropping out at many points, and hundreds 
of feet in depth. The Virginia Marble Company is engaged in open- 
ing and developing a quarry; the lessee has expended $50,000 in the 
enterprise. The marble is white and fine, equal to the Vermont 
marble, while in places there is a solid vein of flesh colored. This is 
a very important interest. 

There are various mineral springs in Loudoun ; one near Purcellville, 
known as Silcott's Spring, is a place of large resort with benefit to 
invalids; a fine chalybeate spring near Middleburg; a strong sulphur 
spring near Farmwell Station; a chalybeate at Leesburg; one near 
Hamilton, and at other points. 

The people of the county are plain, steady, intelligent, independent, 
and kind; of German, Irish, Quaker, Scottish, and English stocks. 

There is little poverty, and but few instances of great wealth, 
3 T et if a stranger were to judge of the condition of the people from 
the number of handsome and fashionably dressed ladies, and the fine 
display of horses and carriages to be seen at the annual county "Fair 
and Cattle Show" held at Leesburg, he would say "Loudoun is 
certainly prosperous." 

Notwithstanding the numerous other means of transportation 
possessed by this county, there were shipped to Loudoun over the 
Washington and Ohio Rail Road alone, in 18*71, 35 handsome carriages 
and 14 pianos; and in 1872, 27 carriages and 10 pianos. 

Nearly all, male and female, give their personal attention to, or 
take part in, the work of the farm or house, and the exhibition of the 
results of domestic industry at the annual fair is one of the most 
attractive features. 

White laborers readily meet with employment, and are treated with 
respect if deserving. 

Nearly every farm is owned Irv its occupant. 

The chief architectural ornaments of the county are "Oak Hill," 
built by James Monroe, late President of the United States, now 
owned by Doctor Quinby, late of the city of New York ; " Oatlands," 
the residence of George Carter; " Belmont," built by the late Ludwell 
Lee (where Gen. LaFayette made his home during his visit to Loudoun 
in 1825), now owned by Hon. F. P. Stanton, of Washington; and a 
dwelling just completed, near Leesburg, b} r C. R. Paxton, Esq., of 



49 

Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, at a cost of $100,000, probably the most 
complete, convenient, and substantial dwelling in the State. 

Generally, the houses in the county are unostentatious buildings 
of frame, brick, or stone, planned for use and durability rather than 
show, but, with their plentiful gardens, spring houses, cool shades, 
and rich fields, they present as perfect a picture of home comfort and 
independence as can be found in any land. 

There are numerous churches of various denominations. There are 
55 free schools, in which are taught 3210 scholars, of which 652 are 
colored. These have 60 teachers (8 colored), and are supported by 
the State and county. Besides these there are numerous private 
academies and schools in the county. 

The streams supply about 80 flouring and grist mills, and the 
water power on the river and its tributaries is ample for every kind 
of* manufacture. The "Big Spring," near Leesburg, supplied a flour- 
ing mill on the Potomac (burned during the war), which turned out 
daily 80 to 100 barrels and employed but little of the power. There 
are 2 woollen factories, but all kinds of factories are needed, and none 
would be more successful than a straw paper mill, and a wholesale 
shoe factoiy, as there are many tanneries in the county which send 
their products to Baltimore. 

The average annual value of the marketable products of Loudoun 
are about $1,500,000 to $1,750,000 which could be increased 50 per 
cent, or more by concentrating care and culture on smaller tracts, and 
by studying the peculiar needs of the lands, making each field a 
speciality. 

The accessibility to market is a great advantage to this county. 

In price the lands vary according to location and improvements, 
from $5 to $100 per acre ; the average is about $25. There are many 
" new comers" from the Northern States, from England and Scotland, 
and all are eagerly welcomed. 

The county roads are good, and, annually, an average sum of 
$ 12,000 is expended on them. There are turnpikes crossing the county 
from east to west from Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria, to 
Winchester via Aldie ; Middleburg, Ashby's Gap, and via Leesburg 
and Snickersville; a turnpike, north and south, from Aldie to Leesburg; 
another from Waterford to Point of Rocks on the Potomac ; another 
from Purcellville, on the Winchester and Leesburg Pike, to the 
Potomac opposite Berlin, and another from Hillsboro to Harper's 
Ferry. 

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal extends on the Maryland side the 
whole length of the north side of Loudoun, with one lift lock opposite 



50 

Leesburg, and another opposite the southeast corner of the county, 
giving access to boats loaded on the Virginia shore, and thus furnish- 
ing the county with Cumberland coal, lumber, etc., and shipping wheat 
and other grains to the Georgetown and Alexandria markets. The 
Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road skirts the county for 12 miles from 
Harper's Ferry to the Point of Rocks, which place is 12 miles from 
Leesburg and 69 miles from Baltimore. The Metropolitan Rail Road 
runs from Point of Rocks to Washington City on the Maryland side. 

The Washington and Ohio Rail Road crosses the county from near 
Guilford on the east to Snickers ville on the west. It is completed 
and running to Hamilton, seven miles west of Leesburg, and forty- 
four miles from Alexandria. In a short time the road will be running 
to Purcellville, three miles further west. So soon as the Washington 
and Ohio Rail Road is completed to the Valley at Winchester, to the 
coal-fields of Hampshire and Hardy Counties, the timber lands of 
West Virginia, and to the Ohio River, it will place Loudoun on the 
great artery of the Union east and west. 

Its resources on the surface and under the surface, as yet hardly 
conceived of or touched, will be developed. Its inexhaustible wealth, 
and its facilities for transportation, will attract intelligent immigra- 
tion and capital, which its people are longing to welcome. 

The easy, short, and frequent railroad connections make this county 
a suburb of Alexandria, Washington, and Baltimore, and put it within 
a few hours of Philadelphia and New York. 

Numbers of the citizens of the District of Columbia are seeking 
permanent homes here, while many more find health and renewed life 
in its cool and quiet retreats in summer. Among the most promi- 
nent enterprises are the erection of summer resorts on the Blue Ridge 
and in the beautiful region of its base. 

Taking into consideration the climate, temperature, health, scenery, 
water, soil, population, and resources of Loudoun, with its close and 
certain connection with all the markets and cities of the seaboard, 
there is no region where the average of human comfort is higher than 
in it. Other regions may excel it in some one particular, but none 
combine more of all the elements of peace, plenty, happiness, and 
independence, than Loudoun. 

The Washington and Ohio Rail Road has five stations in Loudoun 
County, viz., Guilford, Farmwell, Leesburg, Clark's Gap, and Hamil- 
ton ; to these will shortly be added three others — Round Hill, Pur- 
cellville, and Snickersville. 

Guilford Station is twenty-seven miles from Alexandria, in the 



51 

centre of a thrifty and stirring community. The States of Pennsyl- 
vania, New York, New Jersey, and California are represented at and 
in its immediate vicinity by substantial citizens, who, having pur- 
chased farms, have united with their Virginia neighbors in develop- 
ing the resources of this portion of Loudoun County. Old England 
and South America have also contributed to the population by the 
immigration of farmers of means and ability. The villages of Gum 
Spring, Areola, and Daysville receive their supplies and ship their 
productions at Guilford Station. 

Farmwell Station is thirty-one miles from Alexandria. The 
neighborhood of which Farmwell is the depot has experienced the 
good results arising from a healthy immigration, and, like Guilford, 
is greatly improved in its increased productions and in the character 
and intelligence of the people. This depot receives the supplies and 
ships the products of the villages of Belmont, Frankville, and Brook- 
land. On the lands of the late Doctor Lee, near this station, there 
is a strong sulphur spring. 

Leesburg is the county seat of Loudoun and a station on the 
Washington and Ohio Rail Road. It lies at the eastern base of the 
Catoetin Mountains, one and a half miles from the Potomac River, 
at Ball's Bluff, and thirty-seven and a half miles from Alexandria, 
Georgetown, and Washington. It was established in 1758, and has 
a population of 1800. Its streets are at right angles, well paved 
and lighted. An ample and permanent supply of pure watef is car- 
ried by pipes throughout the town. Two newspapers are published 
here. Its buildings are of stone, brick, and frame, substantial and 
comfortable. The assessed value of the real estate in the town is 
$444,290 ; it has a telegraph line to Alexandria, along the line of the 
Washington and Ohio Rail Road. There are six churches, of various 
denominations, including two colored ; the other public buildings 
are the Depot of the Washington and Ohio Rail Road, the Bank, 
Academy, Court House, Jail, Circuit and County Court Clerk's 
Offices, two free schools, one for white and one for colored children, 
two female academies, two hotels, and numerous stores, restaurants, 
and boarding-houses ; the stores keep a complete stock of all articles, 
as various, tasteful, and cheap as can be had in a cit}'. There is a 
large foundry and steam saw-mill, planing-mill, and agricultural 
machine factory. 

The Loudoun Agricultural Society hold a fair and cattle show 
annually at Leesburg, which is numerously attended and well sup- 
ported. 



52 

Leesburg is one of the most healthful places in the Union. Its 
people are well educated, hospitable, and social. • 

A daily line of stages connect with the Washington and Ohio 
Rail Road, at Leesburg, for Aldie and Middleburg. 

Clark's Gap, four miles west of Leesburg, is a very important 
station. It drains a splendid country for many miles; is three and a 
half miles south of Waterford, a very thriving Quaker settlement, 
having a population of 419. There is a fine road from Waterford to 
the depot at the Gap. Waterford is in Jefferson Township, which 
contains 3355 inhabitants, and has two fine merchant mills, which do 
a large business. 

Hamilton Station, forty-four miles from Alexandria and six and 
a half miles west of Leesburg, is the present western terminus of 
the Washington and Ohio Rail Road, an important station, with a 
constantly growing trade ; is situated in a rich and populous 
countiy, an intelligent and wealthy community, with fine and pro- 
ductive farms. This station is the business centre for the neigh- 
boring villages of Hillsboro, Purcellville, Wheatland, Union, Mounts- 
ville, Philomont, Pot House (New Lisbon), Snickersville, Lincoln, 
Hughesville, Pdoomfield, and Circleville, to which is added the large 
business of eight fine merchant mills. 

The Old Dominion Cheese Factory at Hamilton, a new enterprise, 
is in successful operation, and in 1872, the second year of its exist- 
ence, manufactured 2100 boxes. The home demand alone is greater 
than could be supplied by half a dozen establishments of similar 
extent. 

The Loudoun Enterprisers, well-conducted newspaper, is published 
at Hamilton. 

Frequent public sales of cattle arc held at Hamilton ; and the 
well-known character of the stock raised in Loudoun attracts the 
lovers of fine stock, not only from the adjoining counties, but from 
the cities of Washington and Baltimore. 

In the vicinity of Hamilton Depot there is a mineral spring ; the 
water possesses cathartic and alterative virtues, and is doubtless as 
good as many other well known mineral waters. 

Western-bound passengers take Kemp's line of stages at Hamilton 
for Purcellville and Snickersville in Loudoun, Beriyville in Clarke, 
and Winchester in Frederick counties. 



53 



FRUIT CULTURE AND DAIRY FARMING. 

Attention is invited to the following paper, contributed by Col. 
S. E. Chamberlin, of the Department of Agriculture, Washing- 
ton, D. C. 

Col. Chamberlin, late of the United States Army, came to Virginia a 
few years ago from the State of New York, and is extensively engaged 
in these branches of trade at Waterford, in the county of Loudoun. 



The region known as the " Piedmont Region," extending from the 
head of tide to the "Blue Ridge," deriving its name from the "foot 
of the mountain," has peculiar and special adaptation to the suc- 
cessful cultivation of the fruit-tree. 

Loudoun County forms a conspicuous part of this region, the soil 
possessing the happy combination formed from greenstone, quartz, 
gneiss, and clay-slate, constituting that rich, durable soil, for healthy 
growth and long life to the tree, so desirable; the climate being 
especially favorable, with spring not so early as to force premature 
budding, to be injured by following frosts, and with fall sufficiently 
late to permit the apple, pear, and peach to ripen in perfection, with 
size, form, and flavor unequalled in any part of the world. The 
attention of some of our most eminent pomologists and extensive 
fruit-growers has been directed to the superior advantages offered 
here for growing fruit, for not only home, but for foreign markets. 
The age that the apple, peach, and pear trees attain is wonderful. 
They do not come into bearing as early as in lighter soils, but are far 
more productive; and mai^y of the diseases so fatal to, in particular, 
the peach and pear in more northern districts, are avoided. The 
"Yellows," that has proved so destructive to the peach orchards of 
New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and in our more 
southern States, is unknown. Peach trees thirty, forty, and fifty 
years, and many known to be even older, are found healthy and vigo- 
rous, bearing fruit every year. At the last session of the American 
Pomological Society, held at Richmond, September, 1871, the various 
fruits of this locality were freel}- discussed and compared with those 
from all parts of the United States, and pronounced inferior to none. 
The eminent pomologist, Charles Downing, said "that the 'Piedmont 
Region ' of Virginia was the best fruit-growing country in the world." 
Many valuable varieties of our apples, among them the Abram, 
Baltzby, Bentley Sweet, Bowling's Sweet, Holladay, Limbertwig. 
Magnum, Ogleby, Peck's Pleasant, Rawle's Janet (or Rock Ramon), 
Red Winter Sweet, Roberson's White, Robey's Seedling, and Fall 
5 



54 

Queen, have their origin in this region. Many other valuable seed- 
lings, among them the Loudoun Pippin, Round Hill Pippin, and 
Whitescarver, from this locality, are becoming familiar to penolo- 
gists, and find high favor wherever known. . 

But little attention has been given to the cultivation of fruit for 
market, and less to the selection of such varieties as are suitable to 
the climate ; although favored by a most genial climate, and a soil 
rich in all the elements of food for the tree, it is necessary to select 
such kinds as are acclimated ; and here our great advantage lies, for 
by careful and proper selection many of the varieties most desirable 
for market can be grown to perfection defying competition elsewhere. 
Downing sa3'S : "unfavorable soil and climate are powerful agents in 
deteriorating varieties of fruit trees." Many of the orchards where 
trees were selected without regard to their adaptation to our climate, 
but bought of northern nurserymen as the most valuable varieties of 
the north, have proven almost worthless. Apples that mature at the 
north in the warm summer months are improved when brought here ; 
those maturing late when removed south prove a failure, thus proving 
that it is impossible to pass certain natural limits of fitness for cli- 
mate. Along our highways the apple, peach, pear, and cherry are 
found ; though neglected and permitted to grow undisturbed, they 
are found growing vigorously and bearing profusely, many showing 
great age, giving conclusive evidence of the particular adaptation of 
our soil and climate to their growth. The decaying calcareous rock, 
with a warm dry soil naturally well drained, the grape and all small 
fruits find a congenial home. The Catawba grape, so long and favor- 
ably known throughout our whole country, was first discovered in 
this region. The blackberry and raspberry are here found, which for 
size and flavor are unequalled by the best cultivated specimens. 

Loudoun County, lying at the door of our Nation's Capital, with 
ready communication with the East, West, North, and South, offers 
greater inducements to the fruit-grower for the successful and profit- 
able growing of fruit, than can be found in any other locality in the 
United States. 

Dairy farming in Loudoun County is destined to become one of 
our leading industries. The natural advantages are such as to offer 
every inducement for such enterprise. The dairy has become an im- 
portant branch of national industry. It is rapidly spreading over 
new fields. It is engaging the attention of farmers in the Western, 
Northwestern, and Middle States; and wherever lands are adapted to 
grazing, where there are streams of living water, dairy farming is 



55 

taking the lead of all other branches. In the State of New York 
alone the dairy products are valued at more than one hundred million 
dollars annually, far exceeding in value the grain crop. The con- 
sumption of cheese in this country is increasing. We are export- 
ing but little more than in 1861, while the production has increased 
from 103,000,000 to 240,000,000 of pounds in 1869. The average in- 
crease of home consumption has been at the rate of 13,000,000 of 
pounds per year. 

Nature has furnished Loudoun with all the requisite elements for 
success in this calling. With our pure air, our green hills, our never- 
failing springs of sparkling ice-cold water, to be found on every farm, 
with abundance of shade from the oak, hickory, walnut, and maple, 
with the sweetest of all grasses, we may challenge the world to excel 
us in the manufacture of rich sweet butter and cheese. Among the 
rich succulent grasses indigenous to our soil the blue grass (Poa pra- 
tensis) takes the lead. An eminent agricultural writer says of this 
grass: "Whoever has blue grass has the basis of all agricultural 
prosperity; and that man, if he have not the finest horses, cattle, 
and sheep, has no one to blame but himself. Others, in other circum- 
stances, may do as well. He can hardlj' avoid doing well if he will 
try ! White clover (Trifolium repens) and Red-top or Herdsgrass 
(Agrostis vulgaris) are among our native grasses, and Timothy 
(Phleum pratense), the most valuable of all grasses, was introduced 
into England from Virginia by Peter Wynche about the years 1760 
or 1761. 

Our people have almost everything to learn in the proper manner 
of making butter and preparing it for market. So soon as this can 
be acquired, and our farms stocked with good cows, everything will 
prosper. One of the best markets in our country, Washington the 
thirteenth city in size in the United States by the last census and 
rapidly growing, with an increasing demand for the very best dairy 
products, at fancy prices, will consume all we can furnish. 

The manufacture of CHEESE has commenced in our county, and 
an article has been produced commanding an excellent price, pro- 
nounced by competent judges unequalled in flavor by that made any- 
where else. As to the successful manufacture of cheese in Loudoun 
County, I submit the following extract from the United States Agri- 
cultural Report for 1871 : — 

"DAIRYING IN VIRGINIA. 

" Several cheese factories have recently been erected in Yiro-inia 
and an increased number may be expected at an early day. No State 



56 

promises a better profit for capital invested in associated dairying. 
The Old Dominion cheese factory at Hamilton, Loudoun Count}'', 
Virginia, was established in May, 1871. The amount of milk received 
from May 6 to September 8 was 378,138 pounds; amount of cheese 
manufactured, 36,625 pounds; average quantitj^ of milk required for 
one pound of cheese, 10.3 pounds; average value of cheese at the fac- 
tory, 12§ cents per pound, the product being of excellent quality, not- 
withstanding the severe drought of the season. The superintendent, 
Mr. J. K. Taylor, says that it must be conceded that Virginia is ad- 
mirably adapted to dairying, and that the production of milk, butter, 
and cheese would pay the farmers of the State vastly better than the 
present exhaustive system of cropping with grain and tobacco. 

" Mr. Taylor, reporting on the sales of cheese, butter, milk, and 
calves from his daily of eight cows, for the season commencing May 
7, and closing December 12, states the net receipts over current ex- 
penses at $387.19, averaging $48.40 per cow. From Mr. T. R. Smith's 
dairy of ten cows, near Lincoln, Loudoun County, 2640 pounds of 
cheese were made during the season of 1871, netting $273.81. Amount 
of butter made, 970 pounds, bringing au average price of 30 cents per 
pound ; value of ten calves, $61.40 ; average return per cow, without 
deduction for cost of manufacturing butter, $62.62. Mr. E. J. Smith's 
daiiy, near Lincoln, varying from ten to eleven cows, reports an 
average of $46.03 per cow for the season, without deduction for cost 
of making butter. Mr. B. W. Welsh's dairy, near Circleville, in the 
same county, reports an average return of $43 per cow. 

" The low price of land in Virginia, in comparison with the best 
dairy districts in Pennsylvania and New York, the abundance and 
quality of grasses in the best locations, the length of the grazing sea- 
son, and the comparative^ small amount of winter forage required, 
combine to render the business profitable here. Improvement in the 
milking qualities of cows, and a better acquaintance with their proper 
management, will increase the cash value of the product per cow. 
which is now comparatively low." 

CLARKE COUNTY, VA. 

This count}^ was formed in 1836 from Frederick ; is seventeen miles 
long and fifteen wide ; lies in the northeast part of the great valley 
of Virginia, between Loudoun and Frederick — the former county 
forming its eastern and the latter its western boundary. 

The Shenandoah River passes through the southern and eastern 
portions of the county at the foot of the Blue Ridge, and the Opequon 



57 

near its western line. The county is intersected by a number of 
small streams which furnish water-power for manufacturing purposes. 

For its area, Clarke probably contains more fine land than any 
county in the State. The surface is beautifully diversified ; the soil 
is based on blue limestone, with a fine growth of timber, and is veiy 
productive. The farms, generally large, have good buildings, and 
are in a good state of cultivation. It produces large crops of wheat, 
corn, etc., and is a fine cattle region. The census of 1870 shows the 
population to be 7G55. 

When reached by the Washington and Ohio Rail Road, the agri- 
cultural productions of this rich county, and its deposit of valuable 
iron ores, will materially contribute to the business of the road and 
the prosperity of the county. The Shenandoah River is lined with 
ores of a superior quality, which must reach tide-water at Alexan- 
dria, either in ore or pig metal, by means of the Washington and 
Ohio Rail Road. 

These deposits are on the line of the railroad, nineteen miles west of 
Hamilton Station and sixtj'-two miles from Alexandria, at which point 
the iron can be shipped to any point required. The Shannondale Fur- 
nace, in Jefferson County, is on these deposits, as is also the Shenan- 
doah Iron Works, in Page County, which recently sold for $240,000. 

There are good turnpikes and county roads in all directions. The 
Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road passes through the northeast corner of 
the county. It has a depot at Wade's, seven miles from Berryville, 
and one at Summit Point, in the adjoining county of Jefferson, about 
the same distance from Berryville. 

Berryville, the county seat, is a handsome village, centrally lo- 
cated, and commands a fine view of the Blue Ridge Mountains; is 
twelve miles east from Winchester, and sixty miles west from Alex- 
andria; contains the usual countj^ buildings, five churches, schools, 
machine shop, and agricultural works, coach factory, wagon makers, 
flour and grist mills (water powers). Population, 580. Is in Battle- 
town township, which contains 2464 inhabitants. 

The stage line between Hamilton Station and Winchester passes 
through Clarke County, via Berryville, daily. 

Greenway Court, the seat of the late Lord Fairfax, is in this 
couuty, thirteen miles southeast from Winchester, near the village of 
White Post. Greenway Court was recently partially destroyed by fire. 

Leaving the western limit of Loudoun, the line of the Washington 
and Ohio Bail Road enters Clarke County at the summit of the 



58 

"Blue Ridge," find, crossing the Shenandoah River at Grigsby's 

Island, runs through the county in nearly a westerly line for fifteen 
miles. 

JEFFERSON COUNTY, W. VA., 

Was formed in 1801 from Berkley County. Its mean length is 22 
miles, breadth 12 miles. The Potomac River forms its northeastern 
border. The Shenandoah enters the county near its southeastern 
boundary, and flowing in a northeastern direction, parallel with the 
" Blue Ridge," enters the Potomac at Harper's Ferry. 

The face of the country is rolling, and the soil equal in fertility to 
that of an}' county in the State. This county is thickly settled, highly, 
improved, and wealthy. 

Shepherdstown, the county seat, is situated on the Potomac River, 
in the northwestern part of the county, 12 miles above Harper's Ferry, 
and contains 1389 inhabitants. 

Charlestown, the former county seat, is on the line of railroad from 
Winchester to Harper's Ferry, 8 miles from the latter, and 22 from 
the former. Is a pleasant and flourishing town, containing 1593 in- 
habitants. 

Harper's Ferry is 30 miles from Winchester, 57 miles from Washing- 
ton and Alexandria, and 81 from Baltimore. It is connected by rail 
with Baltimore and Winchester. Has great manufacturing advantages. 
Until the year 1861 the United States government had an armory and 
arsenal in operation here, but being destroyed in the early part of the 
war (1861), they have not been replaced. 

The Shannondale Springs, on the Shenandoah River, near the "Blue 
Ridge" are easy of access, via Charlestown, from which place they are 
5 miles distant. 

The Washington and Ohio Rail Road runs a few miles south of the 
southern line of Jefferson Count} 7 , and must draw largely of its re- 
sources. According to the census of 1870 the population of this 
count}' is 16,562. It has eleven post-otlices. 

FREDERICK COUNTY, VA., 

Lies west of Clarke, and its western line forms the eastern boundary 
of Hampshire County, West Virginia. It was created in 1738, is about 
25 miles long, with a mean width of 18 miles; area 378 square miles. 
The Opequon, Sleepy, and Back Creeks rise in this county and flow 
into the Potomac. The principal elevation is the North Mountain, 



59 

extending along the west border. Is one of the most wealthy and 
highly cultivated counties in the valley of Virginia. Every farm in 
this county has its springs or stream. Water power is very abundant, 
aiul there are now in operation about sixty flouring mills, several 
woollen mills, and other manufacturing establishments. Blue lime- 
stone underlies a large portion of the surface. There are 75,000 acres 
of limestone land, capable of producing one million bushels of wheat ; 
eight turnpike roads connect these with the town of Winchester, 
making it the centre for this whole area, and likewise a depot, to a 
great extent, for the products of the renowned Shenandoah Valley. 

Winchester is the county seat. It contains 4477 inhabitants; is 
75 miles from Alexandria and Washington, and 113 from Baltimore; 
is well and substantially built ; the streets cross each other at right 
angles, and are generally paved ; the houses are mostly built of brick or 
stone. It has churches of various denominations and schools, and is 
a delightful place of residence. Winchester is on the railroad leading 
from Baltimore ma Harper's Ferry, to Strasburg, Shenandoah County, 
19 miles distant, where it connects with the Manassas Branch of the 
Orange, Alexandria, and Manassas Rail Road, running from Alexan- 
dria to Harrisonburg in Rockingham County. There is a fine McAdam- 
ized turnpike road from Winchester to Staunton, via Strasburg, New 
Market, and Harrisonburg, a distance of 95 miles in the southwest. 

From Clarke County the route of the Washington and Ohio Rail 
Road is through Frederick, via Winchester, for about 25 miles. After 
leaving Winchester, the line passes through Petticoat Gap in the 
Little North Mountain, and reaches the summit of the Great North 
Mountain at Lockhardt's Gap with easy grades, thence by Capper's 
Spring (now called Rock Enon) and Capon Spring to Hampshire 
County, West Virginia. 

The importance of the Washington and Ohio Rail Road to the 
town of Winchester may be inferred from the fact that in addition 
to a subscription of thirty thousand dollars to its capital stock, the 
same to become available on the road reaching its corporate limits, 
its town council have granted it free right of way through the town, 
and have agreed to purchase, without cost to the company, land within 
its limits sufficient for the erection of repair and workshops. 

The Washington and Ohio Rail Road will here connect with rail- 
ways, now in rapid construction, which extend through that valley 
into the States of North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and the whole 
southwest. It is besides only 97 miles east of the great coal fields 
which will be cut through by the main line of the road all the way 
from the Allesdianies to the Ohio River. 



60 

Newtown (Stephensburg) is a neat and thriving village, 8 miles 
south of Winchester, on the McAdamized road to Staunton, and con- 
tains 625 inhabitants. Stephensburg was established bylaw in 1758, 
and was settled almost exclusively by Germans whose descendants 
long preserved the customs and language of their ancestors. 

Middletown is 5 miles south of Stephensburg, on the Staunton 
Road, the finest in the State. 

Jordan's White Sulphur Springs are located in the northeastern 
portion of the beautiful valley of the Shenandoah 5 miles from Win- 
chester, and one and a half miles from Stephenson's Depot on the 
Harper's Ferry and Winchester Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio 
Rail Road. 

Jordan's is a place of great resort, and has accommodations for 
several hundred visitors. The waters resemble the celebrated Green- 
brier White Sulphur Springs of Virginia. 

The county of Frederick has seventeen post offices, and, according 
to the census of 1870, contains a population of 17,221. 

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY, W. VA M 

Lies west of Frederick County, Virginia, was established in 1754, and 
prior to the formation of Mineral Count}', it contained an area of 850 
square miles. Hampshire is drained by the north and south branches 
of the Potomac, the Potomac River, and the great Cacapon. Its 
surface is occupied by the valleys and ridges of the Alleghany chain 
of mountains. The valleys are wide, fertile, and well improved. 
Hampshire is a fine grazing, grain farming, and wool growing county, 
and contains extensive beds of coal and iron ore. The streams afford 
unsurpassed water-power. This count}' contains over 500,000 acres 
of arable land, of which about one-fifth are under cultivation. These 
figures include Mineral County, recently formed out of it. Prior to 
this the assessed value of farms was $4,000,000, and it is not doubted 
that a much larger sum could now be obtained for them. On the 
authority of Mr. Dodge, of the United States Agricultural Depart- 
ment, it is claimed that this county takes the lead in horses, cows, 
corn, buckwheat, and the products of the dairy ; and there is no doubt 
that its prosperity has been materially assisted and enhanced by its 
proximity to the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road. 

On the road leading from Winchester, a few miles east of Romney, 



61 

there is a deposit of glass sand found in a gap in the mountain. An 
immense amount of sand rock is exposed in the narrow pass, which, 
in places, is very soft and worn by the elements into narrow caves. 
In parts of these soft places the sand is remarkably white and pure, 
and is unquestionably a superior article for glass making. 

A citizen of Reading, Pennsylvania, has recently purchased, on 
northern account, a body of land in this county, near Rock Enon 
Spring, six miles in length, containing a deposit of the best quality 
of iron ore. A vein of 16 feet has already been opened, and it is 
expected that several furnaces will shortly be in operation. Until the 
Washington and Ohio Rail Road reaches these deposits the iron will 
have to be transported, in wagons, to Winchester, a distance of about 
15 miles, and it will pay even at that. 

Romney, the count}'- seat, is a thriving town on the south branch 
of the Potomac, in the heart of the county, 40 miles west of Win- 
chester. Is reached from Green Spring Depot, 163 miles from 
Baltimore, and New Creek Station, 201 miles from Baltimore, by the 
Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road. Population 482. The Parkersburg 
Turnpike passes through Romney. 

Capper's Spring, now called Rock Enon, on the west sid,e of North 
Mountain, two miles from Capon, and five miles nearer Alexandria 
and Washington than Capon, is second to none in the State for its 
medicinal qualities. Though yet comparatively little known, these 
springs are destined to rival, successfully, the most popular of the 
many watering places of Virginia. 

These springs have been recently purchased by a number of 
gentlemen, residing in the District of Columbia, by whom they have 
been refitted and put in fine order for visitors. The extension of the 
Washington and Ohio Rail Road will render them exceedingly 
valuable, the waters being highly prized. 

"Capon Springs" are in the productive valley of the Cacapon River, 
on the west side of the North Mountain, 30 miles from Winchester, 
and one mile from the Washington and Ohio Rail Road, a place of 
great resort during the summer months. The buildings are commo- 
dious, accommodating one thousand visitors, and the grounds exten- 
sive. 

Ice Mountain, 26 miles northwest from Winchester, is a curiosity 
worthy of mention. At the western base of the mountain, which is here 



\\2 

about 700 feet high and very precipitous, is an area of 100 yards in 
length and a breadth of 30 feet up the mountain side, covered with 
loose rocks, under which at all seasons of the year blocks of ice of 
several pounds weight may be found. Butter or fresh meats are pre- 
served here almost indefinitely. At the base of this bed of ice flows 
a spring of intensely cold water, and yet these rocks are exposed to 
the rays of the sun after nine o'clock in the morning. 

The Hanging Rocks, near Romney, are notable curiosities. Here 
the river has cut its wa}' through a mountain of about 500 feet in 
height. The boldness of the rocks and the wildness of the scene excite 
"awe in the beholder." 

Caudy's Castle, a most stupendous work of nature, was so named 
from having been the retreat of an early settler when pursued by the 
Indians. 

The Tea Table is about 10 miles from Candy's Castle. This table 
is of solid rock, and presents the form of " a man's hat standing on 
its crown." It is about four feet in height and the same in diameter. 
From the top issues a clear stream of water which flows over the brim 
on all sides and forms a fountain of exquisite beauty. 

Coal and iron abound in this county. 

The population of Hampshire County is 8125. It has sixteen post- 
offices.. 

The Washington and Ohio Rail Road passes into the State of West 
Virginia at the southern edge of Hampshire County, and that a 
greater increase in its productive wealth and resources will result 
from its establishment on its lower boundary must be apparent to any 
one conversant with the vivifying power of railroads. 

E. Sheets, Esq., of Reading, Pennsylvania, writes to the President 
of the Washington and Ohio Rail Road from Boston, under date of 
January 8, 1873, as follows: " Your letter of the 3d inst. is before me, 
forwarded from Reading. I do think that the Washington and Ohio 
Rail Road will be one of the best paying roads in this country. I 
would offer to transport at least 150,000 tons of ore and material, 
yearly, from the lands I hold myself, and from those of the friends for 
whom I am acting." The lands containing this deposit of iron ore lie 
near Rock Enon Springs in this county, on the line of the Washington 
and Ohio Rail Road. 



HARDY COUNTY, W. VA., 

Was formed in 1786 from Hampshire, and named in honor of 
Samuel Harcty, a member of Congress from 1183 to 1785. Until 
its limits were reduced by the formation of Grant County, its length 
was 42 miles, and its breadth 17 miles. It adjoins Hampshire on the 
south, and is intersected by the South Branch of the Potomac, which, 
in its passage through the county, receives two affluents called the 
North and South Forks ; it is also drained by the Cacapon and Lost 
Rivers. The surface is very mountainous, and abounds in mineral 
wealth: the soil of the valleys is very fertile. It is in many respects 
one of the most remarkable counties in the State of West Virginia. 
It is sufficient to say that its fecundity is becoming proverbial, and 
that better land can nowhere be found in the United States. Is par- 
ticularly famous for its productiveness as a corn region. On the river 
bottoms lands have been planted for consecutive years with this grain 
ever since the advent of the first white settlers, and the Indians are 
reported to have raised the same crop upon them for ages previously. 
Notwithstanding this continuous drain upon the resources of the soil, 
by cropping with one staple, it shows no sign of failing, but produces 
as luxuriantly now as it did one hundred years ago. With a highly 
productive soil, attractive scenerv, splendid cattle and horses, a kind 
and hospitable people, it cannot but entice thousands of settlers to 
its borders. 

Cattle-feeding is the chief pursuit of the farmers. The great dis- 
tance from market renders this the most profitable pursuit, but the 
Washington and Ohio Rail Road will supply the much needed trans- 
portation, and will cause this valley to be one of the garden spots of 
our country. 

At the Capon iron furnace, about four miles south of Wardensville, 
an article of the first quality is manufactured, which is sold in Phila- 
delphia for boiler making. This article now incurs the expense of 16 
miles wagon transportation to the railroad at Strasburg, but on the 
AVashiugton and Ohio Rail Road reaching the furnace this important 
item will be saved to the manufactiu'er. The ore used by this furnace 
is a continuation of the Pennsylvania Juniata iron ore beds: they 
have been long worked and are known to be good. 

Moorefield, the county seat, is a town of considerable ambition. 
It contains probably 1500 inhabitants, and has one of the finest 
hotels in the Valley of Virginia. Is pleasantly situated on low 
ground near the junction of the South Fork with the South Branch 



64 

of the Potomac, contains a number of good modern st3'le buildings, 
and a number in course of erection. The situation of Moorefield, with 
respect to the surrounding country, will inevitably make it a place of 
considerable. commercial importance. 

The mountain lands are generally in a state of nature, covered with 
the original growth of timber. This whole region is favored with 
water power. All the streams above Moorefield have a remarkably 
uniform rapid descent, so that nearly every half mile would furnish 
an excellent water power for ordinary purposes. These streams are 
supplied Irv permanent springs, and even when the season is quite dry 
there is an ample supply of water. 

Moorefield is 27 miles from Romney, in Hampshire County, 42 
miles from Franklin, in Pendleton County, and 132 miles from Wash- 
ington, D. C. 

Leaving Capon Springs, in Hampshire County, and passing through 
the valley to a point one and a half miles be % yond the town of Wardens- 
ville, in this count}*, the line of the Washington and Ohio Rail Road 
will pass through Sandy Ridge by one of the grandest and most pic- 
turesque gaps in the mountains of Virginia. Following the valley of 
Lost River and its tributary streams, the South Branch Mountain is 
reached, and descending the western slope we arrive at the town of 
Moorefield, the county seat of Hardy, in the great South Branch val- 
ley. From Moorefield the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road is distant 
on the north nearly 50 miles, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail Road, 
the nearest on the south, more than 100 miles distant. 

Tli is road will place the South Branch Yalley 71 miles nearer mar- 
ket, besides saving more than one-half the present wagon transporta- 
tion. By a branch 30 miles long from Moorefield to Piedmont, it 
shortens the distance to tide water for the Cumberland coal 31 miles. 

Concerning Lost River, Mr. Dodge, before quoted, says : — 

"Lost River is one of the wonders of nature. After coursing 
through a fertile valley for twenty-five miles, it breaks through the 
Lost River Mountains and bursts the barriers of Timber Ridge, and 
then encounters a new obstacle in Sandy Ridge, which it passes by a 
curious piece of fluvial strategy, mining its way among the loose rocks 
of the underlying strata, but loses itself in its subterranean meander- 
ings of three miles, coming to the light again rather in the capacity 
of strong springs than as the powerful current of a river that has lost 
its way, to become anew the source of a considerable stream — the 
Cacapon." 

A subscription of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the 



65 

capital stock of the Washington and Ohio Rail Road Company is 
expected from this comity, to become available on the road reaching 
its border. 

Hard}- Comity has eight post-offices, and a population of 5518. 

GRANT COUNTY, W. VA., 

Was formed in 1868 from Hard}'", and named in honor of Gen. Ulysses 
S. Grant, now President of the United States. It lies in the north- 
eastern portion of the State, and joins Hardy on the west, which 
comity it resembles in its general features ; is a small comity, and 
divided into three townships, called Grant, Milroy, and Union ; is 
watered by the north and south branches of the Potomac and their 
tributaries. The surface of the county is mountainous, with smooth 
valleys and table lands; is a fine corn-growing and cattle region, 
producing splendid cattle and horses ; is intersected by the north- 
western and other turnpikes. 

A heavy deposit of coal exists on Red Creek and also on Stoney 
River, a branch' of the north branch of the Potomac, in this count}'. 
An extensive purchase of coal lands was recently made in this vici- 
nity. Population in 1870, 4467. 

Grant Court House, the county seat, is centrally located, 30 
miles from New Creek Station, Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, from 
which point the distance is 201 miles to Baltimore. 

Petersburg is a smalltown on the South Branch ; has an intelligent 
population, churches, and schools. 

The Washington and Ohio Rail Road will enter this county from 
Hard}', and, passing through it, run into Tucker County, on the 
west. Grant County is expected to subscribe $100,000 to the capital 
stock of the Washington and Ohio Rail Road Company. 

PENDLETON COUNTY, W. VA, 

Lies on the eastern line of the State, and adjoins the rich county of 
Rockingham, in the Valley of Virginia. Its area is 620 square miles. 
It is intersected by the south branch of the Potomac River and two 
affluents of the same,,called the north and south forks, and by head 
branches of the James. The level of arable land from whence flow 
these streams, it is estimated, exceeds 2000 feet above the ocean. 

Pendleton County was formed in 1788, and received its name from 
Edmund Pendleton, President of the Virginia Convention in 1775. 

Although quite rugged and mountainous, this county is exceed- 



ingly productive. Well-cultivated and highly improved farms are 
seen on the highest levels. The soil is fertile and the pasturage 
rich. It has an area of about 423,000 acres, one-fifth of which is 
under cultivation. 

Pendleton ranks high as a stock-raising region, and in the produc- 
tion of grain, and there are annually produced large quantities of 
maple sugar. 

During the summer months cattle are often driven from the 
southern portions of the State to the mountain regions of Pendleton, 
where, being freed from flies, they are found to thrive greatly. 

The mountain lands, where not cleared, are generally in a state of 
nature, being covered with the original growth of timber. The pre- 
vailing kinds are oak, ash, hickory, sugar-maple, cherry, walnut, 
locust, chestnut, white pine, poplar, linn, and hemlock. Much of 
this timber is very superior, and suitable for ship and bridge 
building. 

There are Pennsylvania-German settlements in several portions of 
the county. 

Franklin is the county seat. It is an old-settled town, pleasantly 
situated on the south branch of the Potomac, 42 miles south of 
Moorefield, the county seat of Hardy, about 40 miles west of Har- 
risonburg, the seat of Rockingham County (and present terminus of 
the Manassas branch of the Orange, Alexandria, and Manassas Rail 
Road), and 35 or 40 miles from the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail Road, 
at its -Buffalo Gap station. Franklin contains about 300 inhabitants. 
The usual county buildings are located here ; there are churches and 
schools, and the people are kind and hospitable. 

There is a very fine body of iron ore about three miles east of 
Franklin ; it occurs in quantity. The ore is a very good hematite, 
and is famous throughout this region as that from which a horseshoe 
was forged ; this shoe was sent to Richmond and placed in the State 
Cabinet. 

There is a remarkably good water-power about three miles below 
Franklin, which is supplied by the Black Thorn branch, a bold and 
never-failing stream. A good brick merchant mill is always in ope- 
ration here. 

The waters of Buffalo Run have a fall of twenty to twenty-five 
feet ; supply ample and permanent. This county is abundantly sup- 
plied with water-power for extensive manufacturing purposes. 

The population of Pendleton County, according to the census of 
1870, is 6455, and has nine post-offices. 

Should the "Washington and Ohio Rail Road not tap this county, 



67 

it will nevertheless receive beneficial results from its passage th rough 
the adjoining counties of Hardy and Grant, with which it has com- 
munication by means of a fine road along the South Branch Valley. 

Notwithstanding their remoteness from market, the lands along 
the Valley of the South Branch are high, ranging from twenty dol- 
lars per acre and upwards; but on the mountain ranges there are 
good farming lands, splendidly timbered, which can be purchased at 
from one dollar to ten dollars per acre, and in some cases for fifty 
cents per acre. 

Most of the counties already mentioned lie in what is termed the 
"Valley Group," concerning which it is said, " For the variety and 
fertility of its soils, fine water-power, central position, salubrious 
and delightful climate, beauty and grandeur of scenery in plain and 
on mountain, it can literally and with severity of truth be said to be 
unsurpassed, if equalled, in the United States, or as a farming region 
in which to make homes of comfort, opulence, and refinement." A 
subscription of $56,000 to the stock of the Washington and Ohio 
Rail Road Company is expected from Pendleton County. 

TUCKER COUNTY, W. VA., 

Adjoins Grant County on the west; is sparsely settled, the census of 
1870 showing a population of 1907. It is divided into three town- 
ships, called Black Fork, Hannahsville, and Saint George, and has 
seven post-offices; is drained by Cheat River and its branches, which 
flows through it. Its mountains are the Alleghany, Cheat, and Laurel 
Hill. Although there is much mountain land in this county, it is 
varied with rolling upland and table land of excellent quality. The 
valleys are generally narrow, but fertile. Lands are very cheap, and 
can be purchased at rates largely below their intrinsic value. 

The products of Tucker County are wheat, rye, corn, oats, potatoes, 
maple sugar, molasses, and honey. Juicy grasses abound, and large 
numbers of cattle are raised. Good pasturage is afforded almost to 
the summit of the mountains, and the yalleys produce excellent corn 
and wheat. There is a fine region of country on the branches of 
Black Water, known as Canaan, a wilderness, but level and of great 
fertility, and covered with the heaviest forests. Coal is found on 
Red Creek, in this county, which, rising near the summit of the Alle- 
ghanies, flows westwardly into Cheat River or rather Dry Fork. This 
coal, 172f miles from tide-water at Alexandria, is the southern out- 
crop of the detached deposit to which the celebrated George's Creek 
coal belongs. 



68 

The Cambria Count}', Pennsylvania, iron ore beds, so extensively 
worked at Johnstown, in that State, are believed to extend into this 
county in the vicinity and south of St. George's. 

Saint George's is the county town, about twenty-five miles from 
Rowlesburg station, Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road via Cheat River 
Valley. 

Leaving Grant County the line of the Washington and Ohio Rail 
Road enters Tucker County on its southern border, and, passing 
through it westward^, enters Randolph County. 

A subscription of twenty-five thousand dollars to the stock of the 
Washington and Ohio Rail Road Company is expected from this 
county. 

RANDOLPH COUNTY, W. VA., 

Lies west of Pendleton, and south of Tucker and Barbour, all of 
which counties it adjoins. 

This count}' was formed in 1T8T, from Harrison, which was created 
three years earlier. Within its limits are several parallel ranges of 
mountains, with their intervening valleys. It is drained by Tygart's 
Valley River, Cheat River, and their numerous tributaries. On these 
streams are large tracts of timbered and arable lands. Much of the 
soil of the mountains is rich, and it abounds in slate, freestone, lime- 
stone, coal, and iron ore, and salt springs are numerous. 

Randolph is a heavily wooded county. It has large areas of wild 
cherry and black walnut, and in such abundance that farm fences are 
made of this valuable timber, and large quantities are burned in order 
to clear the land. It has an unusual proportion of rich valley and 
smooth upland, the Main Cheat and Shaver's Mountains being the 
only rough ridges. The bottom land on Tygart's Valley River is 
very valuable. It is also a fine stock-raising region. Live stock of 
every description is annually exported to the eastern markets. The 
farms are generally well improved, and new farms can be opened at 
very small cost. 

In it there is a very superior coal for making gas, at a distance of 
102 miles nearer to navigation, via the Washington and Ohio Rail 
Road, than the gas coal which is so extensively carried upon the 
Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road. The distance by the Washington 
and Ohio Rail Road to the Cumberland coal is thirt}'-six miles less 
than b}' the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road. This saving of distance, 



69 

and consequently of time and cost of transportation (of such an 
article as coal), will, of itself, secure to the Washington and Ohio 
Rail Road an unlimited and very profitable business. 

Jonathan M. Bennett, Esq., for many years the auditor of the 
State of Virginia, and familiar with the route of the Washington 
and Ohio Rail Road through West Virginia, says : — 

"On the Buckhannon River, in Randolph County, there is land 
having on it not less than thirty to forty poplar trees to the acre, 
thirty of which will measure 80 to 100 feet each to the first limb, 
4 straight as a gun-barrel,' and 5 feet through at the butt. At other 
points, where cherry trees preponderate, an acre can be selected 
having on it twent}' trees which will measure 50 feet to the first limb, 
perfectly straight, and 3 feet through the butt. A group of sugar 
maples can be shown, in a single cove in the mountains, having on it 
not less than five thousand trees. In 1869, in passing through these 
woods, I crossed a poplar tree that had been cut down, and from 
curiosity measured it, and found it was 85 feet to the first limb, and 
6 feet across the stump at the narrowest part, and 6 feet 2 inches at 
the widest, and it was by no means the largest in the group ; and 
whilst I did not measure it to ascertain the fact, it was apparently as 
thick at the first limb as at the butt." 

In the summer of 1869, Professor McFadden, of the University of 
Ohio, passed over the line of the Washington and Ohio Rail Road, 
and from his letters to a gentleman in the State of Delaware, the 
following, relating to Randolph County, is extracted: — 

"Rich Mountain, that next west of the Alleghany, between the 
Dry Fork and Laurel Fork of Cheat River, is rightly named from 
the fertility of the soil. The greater part of it could be brought 
under cultivation. It is now covered with a very dense and heavy 
forest of maple, oak, ash, walnut, poplar, etc. The trees are gene- 
rally large, and mostly free from an undergrowth of laurel. The 
walnut and poplar trees are not very numerous, but some are very 
large and valuable. This whole region will be very valuable for 
its timber and for farming when it is made accessible by means of 
the Washington and Ohio Rail Road. It has a capacity for support- 
ing a dense population. The building of a railroad through the 
valk^v of any branch of Cheat River will increase the present value 
of lands from three to twenty fold. 

"These lands are used for the purpose of summer grazing cattle, 
and the whole region seems peculiarly adapted to the growth of 
grass. The climate is cool and moist, which, in connection with 
6 



70 

some peculiarity of the soil, produces a luxuriant growth of rich and 
nutritious grass.; The region is also abundantly supplied with 
springs of cool and never-failing water. Cattle do remarkably well, 
and the milk is certainty the richest and best I ever saw. The 
country on the head waters of Cheat River is destined to be a famous 
dairy region. On the southern end of Rich .Mountain, there is land 
from which the timber was cleared in the spring of 1868, and which 
produced good grass the same year, and the following year mowed a 
heavy crop of clover and timothy without stirring the soil or sowing 
a seed." 

Randolph County is divided into nine townships ; contains, 
according to the census of 1870, a population of 5563, and has nine 
post-offices. 

Immigration is much needed, and a cordial welcome extended 
to all. 

Beverly, the county seat of Randolph, contains the usual county 
buildings, churches, and schools. It lies on a handsome plain, near 
Tygart's Valley River, and has about 500 inhabitants; is centrally 
located in one of the wildest parts of Tygart's Vallej r ; is fifty miles 
from Clarksburg, an important town in Harrison County, forty-four 
miles to Webster Station, Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, and, by 
Staunton turnpike, seventv-nine miles to Buffalo Gap, Chesapeake 
and Ohio Rail Road. 

Mr. James M. Brown, a practical English miner, examined the coal 
lands of this county, and his letter of December 5, 1872, is herewith 
published. 

The Washington and Ohio Railroad enters this county from 
Tucker, and passes through it into Upshur, along the southern 
border of Barbour County. A subscription of $50,000 is expected 
from this county to the capital stock of the Washington and Ohio 
Rail Road Company. 

BARBOUR COUNTY, W. VA., 

Was formed in 1843, and named from the distinguished Virginia 
family of that name. It lies west of Tucker County, from which it is 
separated b}' Laurel Mountain. It is 30 miles long and 15 wide. 
The eastern part is mountainous, the western hilly. Much of the soil 
is fertile and adapted to grazing. It is drained by Tygart's Valley 
River and its tributaries. So far as improved, this county is prolific 
in crops of corn and in cattle, and with the facilities it will receive 
from the passage through it of the Washington and Ohio Rail Road 



71 

its growth will be substantial and rapid. At the heads of Simpson's 
and Elk Creeks, and on the Buckhannon and Tygart's Valley Rivers it 
is thickly settled. Barbour County contains many well improved 
farms: coal and iron in abundance. The county is divided into seven 
townships, has eleven post-offices, and 10,312 population. 

Phtlippi Court House, the county seat, is twenty miles southeast 
from Clarksburg, Harrison county, and fourteen miles from Webster 
Station on the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, 283 miles from Balti- 
more. It enjoys a favorable location in a fertile country on the east 
side of Tygart's Valley River. It is in Philippi township, which con- 
tains a population of 1605. In this vicinity there is an abundance of 
coal and iron ore of an excellent quality. 

The Washington and Ohio Rail Road crosses this county on its 
southern boundary, and will develop coal lands of great value. 

UPSHUR COUNTY, W. VA., 

Joins Barbour and Harrison on the north, Lewis County on the west, 
and Randolph on the east. It is watered by Buckhannon River, a fork 
of Tygart's Valley River, and the head branches of Elk River. This 
count}* forms the first bench on the gradual ascent toward the moun- 
tains, the Buckhannon Fork level being probably 250 feet above the 
head valleys of Elk Creek and Stone Coal Creek immediately adja- 
cent. Diversified surface, in part rough, with a fair proportion rich, 
undulating, and gently sloping, embracing some fine grazing table 
lands towards head waters. It contains a number of well improved 
and productive farms, and of bituminous and canhel coals and iron 
ore there are vast quantities. 

Jonathan M. Bennett, Esq., before quoted, says : "There is a vein 
of coal on Buckliannon River which is said to be twelve feet thick, and 
I do not doubt it ;" and Col. R. L. Brown, former!}' a member of the 
Virginia Legislature from this county, in a late letter says : " Speak- 
ing of coal fires suggests to me that I never really enjoyed them ex- 
cept in this country. I have two coal banks developed within 300 
yards of my dwelling ; supply inexhaustible. I pay one cent a bushel 
for digging, and haul it myself, so that the coal I consume costs but 
one cent per bushel. My thirty-inch grate burns out two and a 
half bushels in twenty-four hours, but I run it steadily night and day. 
When I throw the coal on I never think about burning money." 

Upshur is a fine cattle county, and produces abundantly of wheat, 
corn, oats, tobacco, potatoes, etc. 

Buckhannon is the county seat. It is well located twenty-eight miles 



72 

rom Clarksburg by turnpike, has one newspaper, and contains 475 
inhabitants. The usual county buildings are located here, also 
schools and churches. 

According to the census of 1870 the county contained a population 
of 8498. The people are kind and hospitable, and immigration is 
greatly desired. Lands are cheap. Some well improved farms can 
be purchased at from ten to fifteen and twenty dollars per acre, and 
good farming lands without improvements at one to three dollars per 
acre. 

The Washington and Ohio Rail Road enters this county from Bar- 
bour, and crosses the Buckhannon River at the town of Buckhannon, 
two hundred and twent3*-fonr and three-fourths miles from Alexan- 
dria, into the county of Lewis. 

The county of Upshur has alread} 7 subscribed one hundred thou- 
sand dollars to the capital stock of the Washington and Ohio Rail 
Road Company, said subscription to be available on the road reach- 
ing its county limits. 

BRAXTON COUNTY, W. VA, 

Lies west of and adjoining the counties of Lewis, Webster, and Up- 
shur. It was formed in 1836, and received its name from Carter Brax- 
ton, one of the signers of the Declaration of American Independence. 
It is drained by the Little Kanawha and Elk Rivers and their hranches. 
The countiy j s generally rough, but fertile and well watered, and 
contains a good proportion of smooth upland. Like the other coun- 
ties in the State of West Virginia, Braxton contains a considerable 
quantity of fine timbered lands which are underlaid with coal and 
iron. Its springs are valuable for their medicinal properties, and 
with the facilities it will enjoy by means of the Washington and Ohio 
Rail Road, these will attract the health-seeking from the Atlantic 
Coast and the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys. About one-eighth of 
its productive lands are under cultivation, from which good crops 
of wheat, corn, oats, potatoes, tobacco, etc., are obtained. Its grass 
lands are capable of supporting large numbers of sheep and cattle, 
and the railroad will give renewed energy to this branch of industry. 
The manufacture of salt received attention to some extent at Bulltown, 
in this count}', prior to the war. But the great need of the county is 
immigration and capital, and these ought to be attracted by the ad- 
vantages it possesses. It has a fine climate, abundant water-power 
for manufacturing and other purposes, a kind and industrious popu- 
lation, and the immigrant is sure to meet a cordial welcome. 



73 

Lands can be purchased at low figures, improved farming lands at 
five to fifteen dollars per acre, and unimproved from two to five dol- 
lars per acre. 

Braxton County has eight post-offices, which are regularly and 
promptly served. Population 6480. 

Sutton, the county seat of Braxton, is accessible from Clarksburg, 
via Weston, Lewis Co., sixty miles from the Baltimore and Ohio Rail 
Road on the north, and ninety miles from the Chesapeake and Ohio 
Rail Road on the south. 

The Washington and Ohio Rail Road, occupying a central posi- 
tion between these, will drain the country for many miles on either 
side of its line, and afford to Braxton County the means of increasing 
its productions and wealth. 

WEBSTER COUNTY, W. VA., 

Joins Braxton, Upshur, and Randolph on the north and west; is 
drained by the head-waters of the Elk and Gauley Rivers, and pos- 
sesses excellent pasturage. It is sparsely settled, and but little culti- 
vated. Its lands are cheap, and offer fine opportunities to parties 
engaged in the raising Of stock. 

Webster County is crossed from east to west by a number of narrow 
parallel valleys, separated by high ridges, which impede communica- 
tion in a north and south direction. Good roads would make this 
an attractive country. 

This county is well supplied with deposits of bituminous coal, and 
shows many indications of iron ore. Salt was formerly manufactured 
in Webster, and, with capital, could be produced in paying quantity. 

Webster is divided into three townships, viz., Fork Lick, Glade, 
and Holly; contains 1730 in population, and has eight post-offices. 

Its uplands and tabledands of good surface and soil, in large tracts, 
can be purchased at from fifty cents to one dollar and a half per acre. 
L T nimproved farms in the valleys at from $5 to $10 per acre. 

Addison is the county seat (the post-office address is Webster C. H.) 
thirty miles from Sutton, the court-house of Braxton Cosnty. 

This county, although not touched by the Washington^ and Ohio 
Rail Road, is tributary to it, and will receive great benefit from its 
passage through the adjoining counties. 



74 



LEWIS COUNTY, W. VA., 

Is bounded on the north by Harrison and Doddridge, west by Gil- 
mer, south by Braxton, and east by Upshur County. Is watered by 
the west fork of the Monongahela River and its numerous tributaries. 
Surface hilty and rolling, and uniformly fertile. The character of 
its lands is very fine for farming purposes. Its productions are 
wheat, Indian corn, oats, tobacco, potatoes, ha} r , etc. It ranks high 
as a stock raising district, having ample pasturage, grazes many thou- 
sand head of cattle, and is a very thriving county. The farms are 
well improved, and, as in the counties east and west of it, the people 
are anxious for intelligent immigration. The population of this 
county in 1870, according to the United States census, was 11,286. 

Lewis County is abundantly supplied with water power for manu- 
facturing purposes. It contains vast tracts of the finest timber, and 
is underlaid with beds of coal, iron, and other minerals. By means 
of the facilities shortly to be afforded by the Washington and Ohio 
Rail Road, these must be productive of great wealth to the country. 
This county presents a fine field to the enterprising man with capital, 
with the certainty of liberal returns for the means and labor expended. 

Weston, the county seat of Lewis, contains a population of about 
1200. Is a well located and growing town, containing much solid 
wealth. The West Virginia 4i Hospital for the Insane," a large and 
first class structure, is located here. One newspaper, the "Weston 
Democrat," is published here. 

Passing through Upshur, the Washington and Ohio Rail Road 
enters Lewis, and runs through the county at or near Weston to Gil- 
mer County. 

Lewis County is expected to subscribe two hundred thousand dol- 
lars to the stock of the Washington and Ohio Rail Road Company. 

HARRISON COUNTY, W. VA., 

Was created in 1784, and named in honor of Benjamin Harrison, 
Governor of Virginia from 1781 to 1784, and father of General Wil- 
liam Hemy Harrison, late President of the United States. 

Harrison is north of Lewis and Upshur, and binds Taylor and 
Barbour Counties on the east. Is finely watered by the west fork of 
the Monongahela River and its tributary streams. The surface is 
rolling and hilly, with expansive valleys. The soil is rich, the county 



75 

containing many highly improved farms. The timber is very fine, 
and water power abundant.; large seams of bituminous coal, already 
developed; also, cannel coal and iron ore. Salt was formerly manu- 
factured at Clarksburg. The Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road passes 
through the centre of this county, in which it has several stations. 

Clarksburg, the county seat, on the Baltimore and Ohio Rail 
Road, is three hundred and one miles from Baltimore, and eighty- 
two from Parkersburg ; contains about 1500 inhabitants, the usual 
county buildings, churches, and schools ; is beautifully located on a 
plateau at the junction of Elk Creek and the west fork of the Monon- 
gahela River, and enjoys the advantages derived from much solid 
wealth and unsurpassed natural elements of growth and prosperity 
which are, as yet, but partially developed ; has a bank with a capital 
of $100,000, two newspapers, and the United States District Court 
for West Virginia holds its sessions here. 

The population of Harrison County is 16,714, as shown by the 
census of 1810. 

The Washington and Ohio Rail Road runs near the southern line 
of Harrison County, and will open that part of the county which 
receives little, if any, advantage from the Baltimore and Ohio Rail 
Road. 

DODDRIDGE COUNTY, W. VA., 

Adjoins Harrison and Lewis Counties on the west ; is watered by 
Middle Island Creek and Hughes' River and branches; surface is 
rolling and hilly; good soil and valuable timber ; is a pastoral and 
grain-producing section ; contains 7076 inhabitants ; is traversed by 
the northwestern and other turnpikes. The Baltimore and Ohio Rail 
Road has six stations, in this county. Its passage is through the 
northern portion of the county. 

The county town of Doddridge is West Union, a station on the 
Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, containing 600 inhabitants, fifty-five 
and a half miles from Parkersburg, and three hundred and twenty- 
seven from Baltimore. 

Saint Clair Colony, a German settlement, is fifteen miles south of 
West Union, on Cove Creek. 

The passage of the Washington and Ohio Rail Road, through the 
adjoining counties of Lewis and Gilmer, will give to parties residing 
along the southern border of Doddridge good railroad facilities, 



76 

and, being much shorter to tide-water than the existing routes, will 
contribute to the wealth and importance of the county. 



GILMER COUNTY, W. VA M 

Lies west of Lewis and Braxton, which counties it adjoins. Is watered 
by the Little Kanawha River, Steer, Cedar, and Leading Creeks, and 
by numerous other streams. The soil is rich ; surface generally 
rolling and hilly, with some fine bottomlands. Gilmer abounds in 
timber, coal, and iron, and has fine and abundant water power for 
manufacturing purposes, and is well adapted to grazing. Its produc- 
tions are wheat, corn, oats, tobacco, potatoes, etc., and stock in con- 
siderable quantity. Is divided into four townships, contains 4512 
inhabitants, and has nine post offices. 

In this county from 15,000 to 80,000 acres of uncultivated land can 
be obtained in a single tract, at a low price, for the settlement of 
immigrants, who can enjoy the unrivalled advantages of municipal 
government, worshipping at their own altar, and educating their chil- 
dren in their own way. 

Glenville is the county seat, containing a population of 300. Is "75 
miles from Point Pleasant, 250 from Washington, D. C, 40 from 
Spencer, Roane County, and 33 miles from the Baltimore and Ohio 
Rail Road at West Union Station. Glenville is in the township of 
that name, which contains 1422 inhabitants. 

Leaving the western limit of Lewis County the Washington and 
Ohio Rail Road enters Gilmer, and passing through it by Glenville, 
runs into Calhoun County. 

Gilmer County has subscribed $15,000 to the stock of the Washing- 
ton and Ohio Rail Road Company, which will become available on 
the road reaching the limits of the county. 

CALHOUN COUNTY, W. VA., 

Lies west of Gilmer and Braxton; the Little Kanawha, its west fork 
and Steer Creek are the principal streams. 

This county covers a small extent of territory, and is devoted 
principally to the raising of stock. Its lands are rich, hilly, and roll- 
ing, and its productions of wheat, corn, oats, tobacco, etc., are con- 
siderable ; contains fine timbered tracts, good water-powers, and the 
capacity for sustaining a considerable population. 



77 

Is divided into five townships, lias six post-offices, and contains a 
population of 2961, who enjoy the advantages of churches and schools. 

Improved lands can be purchased at $5 to $15 per acre, and lands 
unimproved at $2 to $5 per acre. Large timbered tracts at less 
prices. 

Grantsville is the county seat. Is accessible from the Baltimore and 
Ohio Rail Road, via Ellenboro Station, 386 miles from Baltimore. 

The Washington and Ohio Rail Road enters Calhoun from Gilmer, 
and passes into Roane County. 

Like Gilmer, this county can furnish large bodies of land in one of 
the most healthy countries on the globe, for settlement in large colo- 
nies, where they can enjoy their own municipal government and free- 
dom in religious opinions. 

Calhoun County has made a subscription of fifty thousand dollars 
to the stock of the Washington and Ohio Rail Road Company, which 
will become available on the road reaching its border. 

ROANE COUNTY, W. VA., 

Received its name from the eminent Virginia family of that name. Is 
situated on the west boundary of Calhoun. Wirt County lies on its 
north line, and Jackson binds it on the west. Is abundantly watered 
by Reedy Creek, Spring Creek, west fork of Little Kanawha River, 
and the head branches of Pocatalico River. 

This is a picturesque region, '•'full of wooded hills and grassy dales." 
Sheep, cattle, and horses are largely produced in this county, and be- 
sides the cereals tobacco and fruit are extensively as well as profitably 
cultivated. 

The surface is hill}', with some considerable valleys and low flat 
hills in the southern portion of the county, and nearly all of it ex- 
ceedingly rich. 

This is also a fine timbered region. Lands cheap, and immigration 
desired. Unimproved lands with elegant timber can be purchased at 
prices ranging from $2 to $5 per acre. Improved lands from $7 to 
$15 per acre. Coal and iron ore abound in this count}', and with 
the passage through Roane of the Washington and Ohio Rail Road, 
its lands will advance tenfold over present prices. Roane County 
contains 73T5 inhabitants; twenty years ago it had but three settlers. 
Is divided into seven townships, has eight post-offices, county roads, 
schools, and churches. 

Spencer (C. II.) is the county seat, contains a population of about 



78 

200. Is pleasantly situated in Spring Creek Valley, 20 miles from 
Little Kanawha River, and 35 miles from Ravenswood Landing (Jack- 
son County on the Ohio River. 

From Calhoun the route of the Washington and Ohio Rail Road is 
through Roane, near California, into Jackson County. 

A subscription of seventy-five thousand dollars to the capital stock 
of the Washington and Ohio Rail Road Company is expected from 
this county. 

WIRT COUNTY, W. VA., 

Lies on the northern boundaries of Calhoun, Roane, and Jackson 
Counties. Is drained by the Little Kanawha River and its west fork, 
Spring, Reedy and Tucker Creeks. 

The surface is hilly and rolling, with fine valley lands on the river 
and creeks. The soil is rich and well adapted to grazing and farming- 
purposes. Its cereal productions are large, but it is principally noted 
for the oil belt which extends through the county. The oil region 
" about Wirt Court House" is one of the richest in the country, and 
is known as the " Eternal Centre," a well not being considered good 
that does not yield 300 barrels a day. These wells are numerous, and 
are capable of furnishing freight sufficient for the support of a rail- 
road. For want of better transportation, these oils at present reach 
the seaboard by means of the Little Kanawha River to Parkersburg, 
Wood County, thence by Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road to Baltimore, 
384 miles distant. With the completion of the Washington and Ohio 
Rail Road, this valuable product will reach Alexandria and tide- 
water at a saving of about 70 miles in cost of transportation, a very 
important item to parties engaged in the development of this branch 
of industry. 

Wirt County is divided into seven townships, contains 4804 in- 
habitants, and has nine post-offices; at one of these, "Burning 
Springs," there is a telegraph line to Parkersburg. 

Elizabeth is the count}' town (post-office address Wirt C. H.), a 
pleasantly located and active village, twenty-two miles from Parkers- 
burg, and ten miles from Walker's Station, Baltimore and Ohio Rail 
Road, from which point Baltimore is distant hy rail 3G9 miles. 

JACKSON COUNTY, W. VA., 

Was formed in 1831 from parts of Mason, Kanawha, and Wood 
Counties. Its length is thirty-three miles, and its mean breadth twenty- 



70 

four miles. Is bounded by the Ohio River ou the west, and by Wirt 
and Roane Counties on the east. 

Is watered by the Ohio River, Big Mill Creek, and numerous other 
streams. The surface is hilly and rolling. Soils good, portions of 
which are limestone. Good sized bottoms on all the principal streams, 
the soils of which are of the first quality. Its products are corn, wheat, 
maple syrup in large quantities, honey, butter, potatoes, fruit, and 
tobacco. It is a good timber and coal region, and large numbers of 
cattle are bred and grazed in it. 

Its principal landings on the Ohio River are Ravenswood and 
Ripley Landings. 

It is divided into five townships, and contains 10,888 inhabitants. 

Ripley, twelve miles from the Ohio River, is the court house or 
county seat, contains 300 inhabitants, and is situated in Mill Creek 
township, which has a population of 2821. The county town is a small 
but active place, and has two newspapers, the usual county buildings, 
with churches and schools. The county has sixteen post-offices. 

The Washington and Ohio Rail Road enters this county from Roane, 
and, passing through it from east to west, runs into Mason County. 

A subscription of $100,000 to the stock of the Washington and Ohio 
Rail Road Company is expected from this county. 

MASON COUNTY, W. VA., 

Was formed in 1804, from Kanawha County, and received its name 
from the celebrated statesman, George Mason, the framer of the first 
constitution of Virginia, the author of the first Bill of Rights, and 
a member of the convention which framed the constitution of the 
United States. 

Mason County is about 30 miles long, 22 broad, and has an area 
of 300 square miles. The Ohio River forms its western boundary, 
the counties of Jackson and Putnam join it on the east and south, 
and the Great Kanawha River passes centrally through it. It has 
numerous other streams. Is a wealthy county, is intersected by- 
turnpikes and county roads, and enjoys the advantages of several 
landings on its 80 miles of river front. It has one hundred miles of 
bottom lands of unsurpassed fertility, and is becoming, from its 
resources and its advantageous situation, a very thriving portion of the 
State. This county presents an inviting area of fine farming lands. 
Is well adapted to the cereals, and produces heavy crops of wheat, 
corn, oats, etc. Is a fine stock raising region, of which its exportations 
are very large. Has fine timber, which is underlaid with large bodies 



80 

of coal and iron ore. The manufacture of salt is conducted on an 
extensive scale, and this business can and ought to be largely increased. 

Tlie population of Mason Count}'' is 20,811, among which will be 
found immigrants from the States of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, 
Kentucky, and New York, and from England, Ireland, Scotland, and 
other foreign States. It has 19 post-offices, and is divided into 10 
townships. 

Mason County contains several important villages or towns ; of 
these, Hartford has 918 inhabitants, New Haven 489, Point Pleasant 
773, Clifton 693, Mason 1182, and West Columbia 778. 

Several newspapers are published in the county. 

Potnt Pleasant, the county-seat, is situated at the mouth of the 
Kanawha River, one of the most advantageous locations on the Ohio. 
It has two newspapers and a bank with a large capital, and, being the 
western terminus of the Washington and Ohio Rail Road, will become 
on its completion the great point, at the west, for receiving and ship- 
ping supplies eastward and westward. 

DISTANCES ON THE OHIO. 

From Point Pleasant to Huntington, the western terminus of the 
Chesapeake and Ohio Rail Road, it is 37 miles, and from Point 
Pleasant to Parkersburg and Wheeling, the termini of the Baltimore 
and Ohio Rail Road, it is 76 and 170 miles, respectively. 

A subscription of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the 
capital stock of the Washington and Ohio Rail Road Company is 
expected from Mason County, to become available on the road reach- 
ing the limits of the county. 



The Washington and Ohio Rail' Road is not equalled in shortness 
by any other work already completed, in progress or contemplated, 
nor is it necessarily in antagonism to any other work. 

This, and many more trunk roads from the Ohio to the Atlantic 
waters, are absolute public necessities for transportation across the 
portage between the rivers of the great vallej' and the eastern sea- 
board ; they are as indispensable to the life and growth and health of 
the country as arteries are to the human body. 

This great valley between the Alleghanies and the Rocky Mountains 
contains five-eighths, or more, of the sources of production and wealth 
of the United States. 

These resources are, as yet, only in the beginning of their develop- 
ment, and that on no more than a fragment of their surface. 



81 

If so vast in their infancy, what will their maturity be — and who 
can conjecture any limit to their development ? 

The present and future productions of this region, of value and 
extent so utterly incalculable, must seek the Atlantic coast for access 
to the wants and to the markets of the Eastern United States, of 
Europe, and of the Old World, from whence too it must draw the 
supplies it needs from them in exchange. The current of commerce 
must be eastward, with a reflex stream. 

Its people, too, must travel eastward in the direction of their com- 
mercial interests, and the streams of travel to and fro, between the 
great valle}' and the eastern border, immense already, must increase 
in geometrical progression. 

For all this, transportation is needful. This transportation, for its 
people and products, the valley must and will have; it is becoming, 
with its people, the living and great question of the day. The supply 
of the means of shipment and travel is the limit and measure of their 
growth and prosperity. 

Let any one take the statistics of surface and of the present pro- 
duction, trade, and travel, and let him calculate the tonnage of freight 
now to be moved, and the number of persons now to be carried each 
way. Let him reckon up the number of cars needed, and the time 
required between the Ohio, or the Lakes, and the sea-board ; and he 
will see that the lines now in operation, or contemplated, are totally 
inadequate to the wants of the present even. Let him then consider 
the increase of population, trade, and travel, always accruing from 
every addition to the facilities of communication, add also the local 
interests and business developed on the lines of each road, and the 
inquirer will see that there is work for every line now built or con- 
templated, to its utmost capacity, and for five times more. 

So far from this, or any other roads which connect the sea and the 
Ohio, injuring each other, they help each other by multiplying (as 
roads with such termini always do), the general demand for commu- 
nication. 

If a railroad be built through a region which, before that, was 
amply accommodated by a tri-weekly stage for travel, and by farm 
wagons for freight — in the first year of its operation, the minimum 
daily freight and travel, over the railroad, will be many hundred per 
cent, over the maximum of the days before it was built. 

It is a law, as certain as those of nature, that every work of the 
kind creates, as well as supplies, the demand for it, and, if the area for 
this multiplication be sufficient, the road must prosper. The great 



82 

valley furnishes this area of increase, ample for all the roads built and 
contemplated. 

There are now bat ten through lines of transportation built or con- 
templated between the waters of the valley and the tide waters of the 
Atlantic. 

1. The route by the Great Lakes, and through Canada to the St. 
Lawrence. 

2. The Erie Canal, in New York, from Lake Erie, at Buffalo, to the 
city of New York, via the Hudson River. 

3. The New York Central Rail Road, touching the western waters, 
on Lake Erie at Buffalo. 

4. The New York and Erie Rail Road, terminating on Lake Erie, 
at Dunkirk. 

5. The Sunbury and Erie Rail Road, and connections, from Erie, 
Pennsylvania, on Lake Erie, to the Delaware, at Philadelphia. 

G. The Pennsylvania Central Rail Road, from the Ohio at Pittsburg 
to the Delaware at Philadelphia. 

7. The Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, from the Ohio, at Wheeling 
and Parkersburg, to the arm of the Chesapeake Bay at Baltimore. 

8. The Washington and Ohio Rail Road, from the Ohio at Point 
Pleasant to the Potomac tide-water at Alexandria and Washington 
Cities. 

9. The Chesapeake and Ohio Rail Road, from the Ohio at Hunt- 
ington to the James River at Richmond, and, via Rail or James 
River, to the Bay at Norfolk. 

10. South of these, may be mentioned the Memphis and Charleston 
Rail Road, which has indirect connection with the great west from 
the Mississippi, at Memphis, to the citj* of Charleston, South Carolina, 
on the Ashley and Cooper Rivers. 

( )f these, o only, the Pennsylvania Central Rail Road, the Baltimore 
and Ohio Rail Road, the Washington and Ohio Rail Road, the 



83 

Chesapeake and Ohio Rail Road, and the Memphis and Charleston 
Rail Road, can be accessible and operative for western freight, all the 
year round. 

The other 5 are inaccessible, from the West, by water, or are sus- 
pended entirely during 4 or 5 months of ice and frost. 

So that there are but 5 outlets, now built, or in progress, by which 
the freight of the great valley can have continuous, sure, and certain 
transportation during each of the 365 days of the year, and the 
Washington and Ohio Hail Road is one of these five. 

The Pennsylvania Central, the Raltimore and Ohio, the Chesa- 
peake and Ohio, and the Memphis and Charleston are the only ones 
now in operation of the last named five, and their full capacity is 
taxed to its utmost, and is insufficient for their local trade, and for 
the pressure of the trade of the west. 

Of the three and a half millions (in round numbers) of square miles 
in the United States, at least two millions lie between the Alleo-hanv 
and the Rocky Mountains. 

Of the thirty-eight and a half millions of population, about seven- 
teen millions live in this valley, and the average increase of popula- 
tion in the States and Territories therein, in ten years, has ranged 
from 9 per cent, in some, to 520 per cent, in others. 

This whole region has continuous and perpetual water fas well as 
railway) communication with the Virginia side of the Ohio River, and 
at this Virginia shore the water lines of the vallej 7 approach the tides 
of the Atlantic more nearly than at any other point on the continent, 
the distance from Point Pleasant, the western terminus of the Wash 
ington and Ohio Rail Road, to the tide-water of the Potomac, at Alex 
andria, being only 325 miles, or twenty-four hours portage of freight 

Point Pleasant, on the Ohio, is always accessible to steamers and 
barges without interruption from low water, while from Alexandria, 
its eastern port, with a depth of water great enough for men-of-war, 
there is an open way to the ocean, rarely closed by ice, and then only 
for a very few days in the year. 

Western freight must seek that route which is the most certain and 
cheap — which involves the shortest amount of railroad carriage. 

Hence it must concentrate on the short portage of but a single day 
from water to water across the States of Virginia and West Virginia, 
by the Virginia roads, no matter what may be its ultimate destination. 

It must get from water to water as quickly and cheaply as may be. 

Can it be said that any one or two roads can satisfy this demand, 
or supply these wants? 



84 

From these data it can be mathematically demonstrated that when 
the Washington and Ohio Rail Road is completed to the Ohio River, 
connecting with the nine hundred and odd navigable miles of that 
river, and through it with the network of navigable waters of the 
great valley, as well as with its railways, and becomes the shortest 
and easiest of all portages between these western waters and the ocean , 
it will be sure of profitable employment to the outside limit of the 
capacity of any first-class road. 

A torrent of trade and travel, now dammed up in the west for want 
of adequate and cheap transportation, will rush over the Washington 
and Ohio Rail Road, and over any other road on this short portage 
seeking the shortest, surest, and cheapest route to the sea. 

It will be like cutting the dykes, like a crevasse in the levee, like 
tapping the furnace, and the flood will well nigh overwhelm the cities 
at the eastern terminus. 

Nor let it be forgotten that the line of this road passes through 
eighteen of the best counties in Virginia and West Virginia, traverses 
in many of them inexhaustible deposits of coal and iron, and other 
minerals of commerce, opens up vast tracts of the finest timber in the 
Union, besides giving a market to the grazing and grain farms along 
the whole 325 miles of its line. Add its local and home trade to the 
western demand, count up the natural increment of both, and what 
doubt can remain that this, the shortest, cheapest, and easiest transit 
from water to water will be one of the most successful and paying 
roads in the land? 

With but ten bars to the gridiron at any time, with but five of these 
effective at all times, any one can see how inadequate are the present 
means of transportation, how greatly this inadequacy checks produc- 
tion, how the deficiency retards and dwarfs the growth of the west, 
and how, without their completion, the coal and iron on the lines con- 
templated must continue to repose in the sleep which has been undis- 
turbed since the creation, the silence must be unbroken by the sound 
of the factory, and the water-power flow on in the waste which has 
continued for centuries. 

Any one can see that the lines now in operation are inadequate 
to meet the increasing wants, and that this road and more are needed. 

There is enough employment for all and more in the great work of 
multiplying and moving the productions and supplies of the valley, in 
meeting that demand for short, cheap, and uninterrupted transit 
which is ringing throughout the west, the need of which is hourly 
pressing upon them, and in a measure paralyzing their energies. 



85 

For additional information as to the value of the countiy traversed 
by the Washington and Ohio Rail Road, attention is called to the 
letters of J. M. Bennett, Esq., a Senator of West Virginia, and James 
M. Brown, Esq., of the State of Pennsylvania. The latter gentleman, 
a practical English miner, has recently returned from an inspection 
of the counties of Randolph and Barbour. 

State op West Virginia, 
Senate Chamber, Charleston, November 25, 1872. 
Hon. L. McKenzie, 

President Washington and Ohio Bail Road, Alexandria, Va. 

Dear Sir: Your letter of the 7th instant was received just as I 
left home to take my seat here as a Senator of West Virginia, and I 
have postponed answering it in order that I might the better inform 
myself as to the inquiries you made. 

The natural resources along the line of your road from Winchester 
to the Ohio River, in Mason County, are chiefly iron, limestone, coal, 
salt, timber, and water-powers. 

The region from Winchester to the Alleghany Mountains consti- 
tutes a section of that great iron belt, which, commencing in New 
York, runs in a southwest direction, passing through Pennsylvania, 
furnishing many of the largest of the furnaces of that State with 
their stocks ; crosses Maryland ; enters Virginia with the Alle- 
ghanies, forming its eastern base and spurs throughout the whole 
breadth of the State, and extends on to the southwest. In this belt, 
though, ores, for the most part, are the oxides of iron, yielding in 
Virginia from fort}*- to fifty per cent, of iron (hematite). In speaking 
of the Valley of Virginia, in which Winchester is situated, Prof. 
Rogers, in his State Geological Report of Virginia, says : "Of the 
twelve rocks, each marked by certain distinctive characters, com- 
posing the mountains and valle} r s of this region, it has been deter- 
mined that at least eight are accompanied by beds of iron ore, many 
of which yield a metal of the finest quality;" while Gen. Haupt, 
Chief Engineer of the Shenandoah Vallej' Rail Road, in speaking of 
the minerals along the line of his road, which runs in this valley, 
says that '" Pennsylvania, rich as she is, is poor in iron ores as com- 
pared with Virginia." Many of these ores have been worked and 
well proven in the small furnaces of this region, but they have 
never done a large business, both from want of transportation and 
because they had to look to charcoal as a fuel ; and timber is too soon 
stripped from the immediate vicinity of a furnace to depend upon it 
as a smelting agent in very large works. For this latter reason, 
7 



86 

therefore, these ores must look to other sources for their reduction, 
and most naturally "will they turn to the West Virginia coal, as it is 
the nearest, as well as of the most excellent and superior quality for 
that purpose. 

These iron ores, which, as I have said, yield from forty to fifty per 
cent, of iron, can be placed on the cars from lands contiguous to 
your road at from one dollar and twenty-five cents to two dollars per 
ton, or, if a furnace is on the property, at its tunnel head, at the same 
rate. The Lake Superior and Missouri ores cost, delivered in Pitts- 
burg, thirteen dollars to fourteen dollars per ton. 

" In Hampshire County," says Professor Rogers, in the report 
before referred to, " upon a stratum of valuable iron not less than 
fifteen feet thick, there rests a bed of sandstone, upon which reposes 
a coal seam three feet thick, above this another bed of sandstone, 
then a two-foot vein of coal, then sandstone, then another coal seam 
of four feet, again a stratum of sandstone, and over it a seven-foot 
vein of coal; over this a heavy bed of iron ore, and, crowning the 
series, an enormous coal seam of from fifteen feet to twenty feet in 
thickness." 

In this region is limestone in plenty and of the best qualit}^ for use 
in the blast-furnace, while for lime and hydraulic cement some of it 
ranks very high. 

From Hardy County, inclusive, your road runs in the great coal 
field of West Virginia. 

What else is needed but the establishment of a railroad to bring 
this coal and iron together, and to take the manufactured products 
to market, to induce the establishment of large and extensive blast- 
furnaces, rolling-mills, machine-shops, etc.? 

West of the Alleghanies is a country of simple geological struc- 
ture, belonging to the coal measures. The strata dip with a slight 
and uniform angle towards the Valley of the Ohio ; everything 
bespeaks it to have been at one time an expanded plain, which was 
gently tilted from the horizontal position. The form, direction, and 
character of both hills and valleys give evidence that its inequalities 
of surface were caused by the furrowing action of a mighty and 
devastating rush of waters, which, by rapid drainage, scooped out 
enormous valleys and basins in the upper strata, leaving most of the 
coal-bearing strata (which contain all the varieties of coal, save lig- 
nite and anthracite) above water-level, and making thousands of 
available points for the coal miner to begin operations ; whilst the 
nearly horizontal position alluded to keeps whatever valuable mine- 



87 

rals maybe in the ground near the surface, or at an accessible depth, 
over enormously wide spaces of country. 

The advantages mining will derive from this portion of the coal 
above water-level will be plainly seen by comparing this country and 
Great Britain in that respect. The cost of sinking shafts in the New- 
castle region of that country to one thousand feet has been, in many 
instances, one thousand dollars per yard. 

In the great northern coal fields of England, producing twenty 
millions of tons of coal per annum, there are two hundred pits, 
costing, for first outlay for sinking and machinery, fifty millions of 
dollars, to which must be added the necessary expenses in main- 
taining air-courses, etc., requisite to the safety of the employees. 
There is now invested, simply in pits and machinery for pumping and 
hoisting the one hundred millions of tons of coal produced annually 
in Great Britain, two hundred million dollars, and this vast sum is 
destined to utter destruction in serving the purposes for which it is 
used. 

In West Virginia the mighty natural forces to which I have 
referred have already sunk all necessary pits and shafts, which need 
neither repair nor renewal. The inclination of the strata, coupled 
with the laws of gravity, have provided the most costless, perfect, 
and permanent pumping machinery, and the perfect ventilation of the 
mines is but a matter of the most ordinary care. 

Owing to the lack of communication with the outside world of the 
region through which the Washington and Ohio Rail Road passes 
there have been heretofore no inducements to open up the various 
seams of coal, save at the foot of the hills, or where they may be 
most accessible to supply neighborhood demands, and, consequently 
1 am unable to give you details as to individual seams, or to state 
the thickness of the thickest ; but I may state that the celebrated 
Pittsburg seam, which, at Clarksburg, in the adjoining county to 
Lewis, measures from ten to twelve feet, has been traced across the 
line of your road by Prof. Rogers ; that to the north, in Preston 
County, seams of eight to ten feet have been proven, while in Clay 
and Nicholas Counties, to the south, eight, ten, and eleven-foot ones 
have been opened, though, for want of transportation, not yet 
worked. 

This coal and iron on which I have thus dwelt constitute the mine- 
ral wealth of the country along the line of the Washington and Ohio 
Rail Road. 

The world's demand for iron exceeds the supply ; the prices of pin- 
metal within the last twelve months have risen in England over one 



88 

hundred per cent., and in this country have put the price up to fift3 r -six 
dollars. Therefore, on the market for iron I need say nothing, but 
allow me to call }'our attention to that for coal in the West. 

By means of the Washington and Ohio Rail Road the coal along 
its line will be brought into communication with the great Missis- 
sippi Valle}-, and its 20,000 miles of navigable waters, and its system 
of 20,000 miles of railroad now in successful operation, and their hun- 
dreds and thousands of coal burning engines, locomotives, factories, 
furnaces, and machine shops. 

These rivers and railroads wash the shores and traverse the coun- 
try of sixteen magnificent, populous, and growing States, with an 
area of one million square miles, and minister to the wants of ten 
millions of people. 

The better to form some idea of this mighty western country, I 
would state, on the authority of a pamphlet issued by Messrs. Fisk 
& Hatch, of New York, in the interest of the Chesapeake and Ohio 
Rail Road, "That the tonnage of the upper Ohio in steamers, barges, 
and boats exceeds that of New York ; and that of the Ohio, as esti- 
mated by government engineers, exceeds the entire foreign commerce 
of the United States." 

The consumption of coal throughout the West was increasing be- 
fore the war at the rate of twenty-five per cent, per annum, and as the 
growth of that great region has been even more rapid since that time 
in population and wealth, it seems fair that the consumption of coal 
has also increased, and must increase, I might almost say, indefinitely. 

Again, not only does the market increase by increase of population, 
but there is a larger demand year bj r yeni' from additions and im- 
provements in the arts and manufactures ; for every new invention of 
a labor-saving machine usually implies a new source for the consump- 
tion of coal, either directly in the production of steam to run that 
machine, or indirectly in producing heat or steam for its manufac- 
ture, and ofttimes for both. 

The salt formation extends from the Ohio toward the Alleghanies, 
but from lack of communication with market it has been heretofore 
but little explored, and its limits still less defined. In Mason County, 
in 1870, there were thirteen furnaces in operation, and before the war 
the manufacture of salt was carried on in a cheap way at Bulltown, 
Braxton County, and at Addison, in Webster County. 

Its manufacture does not necessarily require a large capital, as the 
brine is obtained by putting down a bore till it reaches salt water, 
and putting in a small pump to pump it into reservoirs, whence it 
runs into the evaporating pans. In some cases the brine is brought 



89 

up by the gas from the salt formation without the aid of pumps ; and 
when this is the case, the gas is collected and forms a portion of the 
fuel by which the salt is made. 

The timber along the line of your road is fine, and particularly so 
on the coal measures west of the Alleghanies, where the forests are 
unique in their magnificence. After spending some time in them one 
does not appreciate the size of the trees, but upon leaving the coal 
strata and going east, the trees there look dwarfish and stunted in 
comparison. All tlie varieties of oak, black and white walnut, wild 
cherry, hickory, poplar, beech, maple, chestnut, spruce, pine, etc. etc., 
abound ; white oak three to three and a half feet in diameter and 
sixty feet to the first limbs ; poplar four and six feet through and 
sixty and seventy feet to the crotch ; hickory six and eight feet round 
and sixty feet long, and the other timbers on the same magnificent 
scale are common, while in Webster, Randolph, and Pocahontas 
Counties are large areas of wild cherry (so highly prized by cabinet- 
makers) four feet in diameter, seventy and eighty feet without a twig, 
and straight as an arrow. In some of these counties, owing to their 
inaccessibility to market, so little store is set by this timber, that one 
sees farm fences made of black walnut and wild cherry, and this valu- 
able timber is burned to clear the land for small fields. 

This region abounds in fine water-powers and manufacturing sites. 
The value of this will be better appreciated when it is called to mind 
that water-power is rated and paid for in other States at a yearly rent 
of from twenty to fifty dollars per horse-power, according to location 
and demand. • 

I would also .make allusion to one peculiar feature incident to the 
small mountain creeks, which certainly can be found at but few other 
points. It is the use that can so easily be made of cheap hydraulic 
means for lifting and handling heavy weights. To illustrate : Many 
of the mountain streams can be turned into pipes with heads of (say) 
300 feet, giving a pressure of (say) 125 pounds per square inch. Turn 
this water into a cylinder on a piston of eighteen inches, and allowing 
over thirty per cent, for friction, it will lift ten tons weight, and it can 
be operated by any one who can turn a hydrant cock. 

This plan can be adopted in a hundred ways inexpensively, and with 
a saving of labor that in some instances amounts to a fair profit in 
itself. The idea of thus utilizing the water-fall of small streams in 
this country was first spoken of, I believe, by the Hon. Howell Fisher, 
M. E., of Pennsylvania. 

The proposed Northern and Southern West Virginia Rail Road 



90 

will tap the Washington and Ohio Rail Road at Weston, Lewis 
County. 

Along the Washington and Ohio Rail Road there is enough uncul- 
tivated land in Gilmer and Calhoun Counties for the settlement of 
large colonies ; 75,000 to 80,000 acres may be obtained in a single 
tract for these purposes, and presents the unrivalled advantages of 
municipal government. They can worship at their own altar and 
educate their children by their own teachers, and all this in the health- 
iest country on the globe. 

Lewis County is well adapted to the cereals, but lacking lines of 
communication abroad. We graze principally, and for that purpose 
there is no better land in the United States. Grapes, for wine, have 
recently been introduced, and succeed admirably. 

The other counties along your road are similarly situated, but, with 
the exception of Mason, this is the best. 

All children, who so desire, are educated in the free schools at 
public expense. The population of the county is about 12,000; it 
grazes 25,000 head of cattle ; has sixteen post-offices; is traversed 
with turnpikes and good wagon roads ; and there are public convey- 
ances from one end of the county to the other. Weston is the county 
seat; it has a population of about 1C00; has five churches and an 
academy. The insane asylum is also situated here ; it has a frontage 
of 1235 feet, and will cost, when completed, one million dollars. 

Your road will pass through the great petroleum belt. Some wells 
near the line are now being worked, yielding in the aggregate, per- 
haps, o$e thousand barrels per day. With improved lines of trans- 
portation, such as your road will furnish, it is just.as easy to'produce 
ten thousand barrels of oil per day as one, for all that is needed is 
the additional labor. 

Much of the information here given was obtained from Professor 
M. F. Maury, Jr., Geologist, etc., of this city. Professor Maury is a 
Fellow of the Geological Society of London, and a Graduate of the 
Ro3"al School of Mines of England, as well as having the title of 
C.E. He is more thoroughly posted, I presume, as to the mineral, 
etc., wealth of this State than any other person within our borders, 
and for that reason I have drawn largelj r upon his store of information. 

Yours, truly, 

J. M. BENNETT. 



91 

Pittston, Pa., December 5, 1873. 
Hon. Lewis McKenzie, 

President of W. and 0. B. It., Alexandria, Va. 
Sir: I have, by invitation, been on a visit to West Virginia, for 
the purpose of examining the coal-fields in the county of Randolph 
and a portion of Barbour County. The coal region in Randolph 
exceeds anything I have seen in this or any other country, and I 
have seen the most important coal districts in the States, from 
Pennsylvania to Nebraska. My acquaintance with bituminous coal 
dates back to my eleventh 3 : ear, and my experience has been mostly 
in the counties of Northumberland and Durham, and in Newcastle, 
England. The coal veins, too, which we examined, would measure 
from thirty to thirty-five feet, and the most above or at water level, 
and, I may add, the nearest approach to the quality of Newcastle 
coal of any I have seen. The above veins would yield at least thirty 
thousand tons per acre; fifty acres per year would be one million 
five hundred thousand tons. The company that sent me to examine 
this coal-field have about four thousand acres, which is but a small 
part in the counties above named. On account of the lateness of 
the season, we did not make such an examination of the iron as we 
would like to have done, but, I have no doubt, it is in considerable 
quantity, as we found some good specimens. The timber is in abund- 
ance, and of large size and good qualitj' — white and yellow poplar, 
cherry, different kinds of oak. The qualitj' of the soil would war- 
rant a large agricultural production of any kind; limestone in abund- 
ance and of good quality. In short, the above counties contain all 
the materials to make any commuuity, with industry and sobriety, 
prosperous and wealth}". More might be said, and the whole not yet 
told. I have seen a notice in the Christian Union, giving a descrip- 
tion of the material on the line of the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail 
Road. Without wishing to lessen in any degree what is stated in 
regard to the mineral wealth of those counties, the counties of Barbour 
and Randolph, in particular, far surpass, in my judgment, in coal 
and iron and limestone, anything in the line referred to. I have 
lived at the mouth of the Coal River, in Kanawha Count}', near two 
years, and I know what I state. As I have stated, the land and 
timber alone are worth the attention of capitalists and the poor man 
wanting a home. I would certainly prefer Western Virginia, with 
good timber and good soil, with good water and a healthy climate, to 
going west. I have no interest in making these statements, onl}- to 
state what I have seen and is patent to any man of experience that 
wishes to see for himself. Yours, respectfully, 

JAMES M. BROWN. 



92 

The following article, from a late number of the " Rockingham Regis- 
ter," confirms the testimony (if confirmation were necessary) of Mr. 
Brown in relation to the heavy deposits of coal in Randolph County. 
Jack Mountain runs through Pendleton County for about twenty 
miles, and passes into Highland County, Va., on the south. High- 
land was formerly a part of Pendleton County. Doe Hill is a small 
settlement in Highland County. 

Mineral Wealth. — Southwest of Harrisonburg, about thirty-five 
to forty miles, is a mountain, known as Bull Pasture Mountain. 
This mountain runs north and south, and is composed of three 
ridges. The first or main mountain has signs of iron ore to some 
extent; the second mountain, or ridge of Bull Pasture, is found to 
be a mountain of iron ore, or what is known as hydrated peroxyzed, 
or brown hematites. In many places this ore is found to crop out, 
and present a breast of pure hematite of not less than 200 yards 
wide, and extending for miles. This great body of iron ore extends 
on this Bull Pasture Mountain for a distance of some twenty miles; 
starting at Doe Hill, in Highland County, running south some twenty 
miles, near to the Bath County line ; and west of this second ridge of 
the Bull Pasture Mountain adjoining, is the third ridge of mountain, 
which is composed of the purest limestone, an article so essential 
to the working to profit of this vast deposit of iron ore. Jack 
Mountain contains iron in as great quantities as the middle ridge of 
the Bull Pasture Mountain. All of this great iron deposit is well 
watered by the streams of Cow Pasture and Bull Pasture Rivers, 
with other live streams passing on west. These blossoms of iron ex- 
tend to the county of Randolph, West Virginia, or near the head 
waters of the Elk River, at which are the great deposits of the finest 
coal, probably, now known on this continent. These great deposits 
of the fine fatt} r bituminous, the splint and the cannel coal, are found 
on the waters of Elk River in great abundance. 

The distance from the end of the Orange, Alexandria and Manassas 
Rail Road at Harrisonburg, to the vast beds of iron in our sister 
county, is only about forty miles, and from the iron deposits we 

find these rich coal-fields only some fortj^ miles west Rockingham 

Register. 



93 



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95 



Distances on the Washington and Ohio Rail 
{From Washington by the present junction 

To Falls Church 
Vienna 
Hunter's Mill 
Thornton . 
Herudon 
Guilford 
Farmwell . 
Leeshurg 
Clark's Gap 
Hamilton 
Purcellville 
Round Hill 
Snickersville 

Berryville . 

» 

Winchester 

Rock Enon Sprini 

Capon Springs . 

Bilker's Run 

Summit South Branch 

Moorefield . 

Petersburg . 

Summit of the Allegh; 

Forks Red Creek (Coal 

Buckhannon 

Weston 

Glenville 

Little Kanawha River 

West Foik of Little Kanawha 

Sandyville . 

Point Pleasant (on the Ohio) 



Mountain 



any . 
Lands) 



road from 


Alexandria 


it is I miles further.) 




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97 



THE ONLY DIRECT LINE 



TO 



VXCFLGrHrcri-^L. 



The Magnificent Steamers of 

THE ALLAN LINE 

Leave Liverpool every alternate Tuesday 

FOR NORFOLK, VIRGINIA, 

Calling at Queenstown next day. 

Cabin Fare to Xorfolk, £1$. ISs and £1». l»s. 

Intermediate Cabin, £0. 9s. 

Steerage, £(j. (is. 



The accommodations of these Steamers are unsurpassed. An 
experienced Surgeon is attached to each Steamer and Cabin. Inter- 
mediate and Steerage Stewardesses are on each Steamer for the pur- 
pose of attending to the wants of females and childi 

A kind reception awaits all passengers by this Line to Xorfolk. 
and females and children destined to friends in the interior are espe- 
cially cared for by a beneficial society. 



THROUGH TICKETS TO ALL RAILWAY POINTS EN THE 

SOUTH, SOUTHWEST. AND FAE WEST, DAB 

BE OBTAINED VIA NORFOLK, 



This Route is the Cheapest to Washington, D.C., 

Alexandria, Va., and Stations on the 

Washington & Ohio Railroad. 



further information, apply to 
ALLAN BROS. & CO.. Liverpool. 
JAMES & ALEX. ALLAN. Glasgow. 
MONTGOMERY & GREENHOME. London. 
JAMES SCOTT & CO . Queenstown. 
Or WILLIAM LAMB. Norfolk. Va. 



98 



Statistics of the Cumberland Coal Trade, from its commencement. 
Compiled from official sources by C. Slack, Mount Savage, Md. 

Table No. 1. — Details of Production of 1872. 









IS' 


2. 






Compared with 
1S71. 


Name of Company or Mine. 
















To B. & 0. 


To C. & 


To Pen. 


Local. 


Total. 


In- 


De- 




R. R. 


O. Can. 


R.R. 






crease. 


crease. 




tons. 


tons. 


tons. 


tons. 


tons. 


tons. 


tons 


Consolidation Goal Company 


214,445 


238, 8S9 


18,670 


32,137 


004,132 




1,395 


New Central Coal Company 


123,690 


147,349 




137 


273,176 


273,176 




George's Creek Coal & Iron Co. . 


192,128 


41, '232 






233,360 


41,273 




American Coal Company 


99,159 


127,766 






226,925 


1,271 






90,6S9 


114,644 


2,994 


1,947 


210,274 


2,618 






]1S,155 


SO, ISO 




108 


19S.443 




134,599 


Hampshire & Bait. Co. (Midland) 


5,055 


2,963 


261 


107) 








" " (National) 


2.9S5 


52,066 


96 


46 V 


1S4,943 


22, 9 SO 




" " (Va Mines) 


121,364 






....) 










103,600 












10.3,600 


23,153 






85,441 












85,441 


4,223 






78,375 












78,375 




662 




72,637 
55,230 












72,637 




7,078 


Atlantic & George's CreekCoalCo. 












55,230 




7,402 




47,827 












47,827 


38,263 






41,559 












41,559 




4,306 




17,827 
10,374 












17,827 


7,020 




Midlothian Coal Company 












10,374 




11 7, .-,62 






11,023 








325 


11,348 




20,315 




















78,870 



















31,478 




1,482,540 


816,103 


22,021 


34.S07 


2,355,471 


413,985 
403,667 


403,667 


















10,318 


incr'se 



Recapitulation. 



By Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad to B. & O. R. R. 

" to C. & O. Canal, 

" " " " " to Penn. R. R. 

" " " " " to Local, 

" Cumberland Branch Road to B. and O. R. R. 
" " " " to C. and O. Caual, 

" " " " to Local, 

" Hampshire and Baltimore Co. to B. and 0. R. R. 
" Virginia Coal and Iron Company, 

Total tons iu 1S72, 
1531 Tons Gas Coal shipped during the year by Canal. 



1,252,858 




612,537 




22,021 




31,098 

22,877 


1,91S,514 


203,566 




3,709 


230,152 
121,364 

s.-.,441 



2,355,471 



99 



The Cumberland Coal Trade, from 1842 to 1872, inclusive — 31 years. 

Table 2. 







Frostburg Region. 






Piedmont 
Region. 


-Ora 


"3 








Cumberland and Pennsylvania 


Cumbei 


land Coal & Iron 


G. C. 


Hamp. 








R. R. 




Co's R.R. 




R.R 


- 


R.R. 


o si 
. 5 '3 


<* O ^^3 

* g o - g g 






±i-J. 


■a a 


a 




*M 


jj a 






-8« 


a 




e'~ 


do 


Ss 


■jj 


m'« 


oo 


"3 


"3 


e W 




s o^s s a S 


a 




X— ' 


ifO 


,-•"' 


o 


^o 


£•6 


o 


c 


>o 


otto 


oq I L°(£p3 


t> 




B 


P3 


« 


Eh 


ra 


CQ 


Eh 

tons. 


to 


rn 


tt 


Eh 


Eh^ K Eh"" 


<i 




tons. 


tons. 




tons. tons. 


tons. 


lis. 


tons. 


tons. 


tons. 


tons. 


ton 


1812 


757 










757 951 






951 










1,708 








1 


1813 


3,661 










3,66l| 6,421 






6,421 












10.0S2 










10 


1814 


5,156 










5,156, 9,734 






9,734 












14,S90 










14 


1 S to 


13,738 


... 








13,73S 10,915 






10,915 












24,653 










24 


1816 


11,240 










11,240 


IS, 555 






IS, 555 












29,795 










29 


1S17 


20,615 










20,615 


32,325 






32,325 












52,940 










52 


ISIS 












36.571 


43,000 






43,000 












79,571 










79 


1849 












63,676 


78,773 






78,773 












142,449 










142 


1810 


73,783 


'3,167 






76,950 


119,023 


' ' 875 


119.89S 












192,S06 


4,042 






196 


1 8-1 1 


70,893 


51,438 






122,331 


103, SOS 


31,540 


135,348 












174,701 


82,978 






257 


1332 


128,534 


40,357 






174.S91 


139,925 


19,362 


159, 2S7 












268,459 


- 65,719 






334 


1 S i» 


150,381 


84.060 






234,441 


155 278 


70,535 


225, SI 3 


73,' 


25 






376,219 


157,760 






533 


18 »l L4S.953 


63,731 






&12.6S4 


173,580 


92,114 


265,694 


181,, 


103 






503.S36 


155,845 






659 


, IW 


93,961 


77,095 






171,056 


97,710 


100,691 


1 98,401 


227,245 


05,570 


47S.4S6 


183,786 






662 


. ]((36 


86,994 


80,387 






167,381 


121,945 


105,149 


227,094 


269,210 


42,765 


502,330 


204,120 






706 


1 1S57 


80,743 


33.174 






135.917 


8S,573 


54,000 


142,57:; 


252,368 


51,628 


465,912 


116,574 






582 


• 


48,018 


166,712 






214,730 


66,009 


87,539 


153,548 


218,318 


63,060 


395,405 


254,251 






649 




48,415 


211,639 






260,054 


72,423 


86,203 


15S.626 


257.710 


46,934 


426,512 


297.S42 






724 


I860 


70,669 


232,278 






302,917 


80,500 


63,600 


144.100 


2Vi,29.s 


52,564 


493,031 


295, S7S 






788 




23.87S 


68,303 






92,181 


25,9S3 


29,296 


55,279 


85,554 


36,660 


172,075 


97,599 






269 


1862 


71,743 


75.006 






146,951 


41,096 


23,478 


64,574 


69,482 


36,627 


218,950 


9S,6S4 






317 




117,796 


173,269 






291,065 


111.0S7 


43,523 


154,610 


266,430 


36,240 


531,553 


216,792 






74S 


18SI 


287,126 


194,120 






481,246 


67,676 


64,522 


132,198 




44,552 


399,354 


258,642 






657 


381,297 


285,295 






669,592 


104,651 


57,907 


162,558 






71,345 


560.293 


343,202 






903 


IS66 592.93S 


291,019 






S83,957 


52,521 


52,159 


101,410 






90,964 


730, 153 


343, 17S 






1,07! 


l 1857 (523,031 


385,249 






1,008,2S0 


40,106 


72,904 


113,010 






72,532 


735,669 


458,153 






1,193 


■ ISKS 639,113 


424,406 






1,0S3,521 


100,345 


57,919 


158,261 






88,658 


848,118 


482,325 






1,330 




1,016,777 
909,311 


573,243 

520,196 






1,590,020 
1,429,707 


130,017 


7S.90S 


208,925 






S3, 724 
60,9SS 


1,230,51S 
1,112,938 


652,151 
604,137 






1,SS2 






2,092,657 


1,192,224 


3,2S4,SS1 


2,190,673 








Cumberland Branch. 


Va. C. & 
I. Co. 

28,035 




i 


114,404 


S3, 941 


198,345 


1,717 


1871 1,247,27!) 


656,085 


1,903,364 


69,S64 


194,254 


264,118 


S1.21S 


96,453 


1,494,814 


850,339 




2,345 


IS72 1,283,956 


612,537 22,021 


1,918,514 


26,586 


203,666 


230,152 


S5,4 


II 
84 


121,364 


•1,517,347 


816,103 


22,621 


2,355 




- 174 207 


5,330,966 22,021 


13,727,194 


210,854 


481,7 


il 


692,615 


194,6 


1,163,628 


14,191,564 


7,040,100 


22,021 


21,253 



* Includes 42,760 tons used on liue of Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad and its branches, and at Cumberl 
mil Piedmont ; also 277,194 tons used by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company in Locomotives, Rolling Mills, etc 



100 



MtW ami %m\pmW £{f f ac icfg 

OF NORFOLK, VIRGINIA. 

l'-. ; 'niix GOODE,J R ., President. 

C- SCHWARZKOPF, ThIBD « 

JOHN T SB \\k< r . 

™ANKB. D0 KNI^ 

IDt I r ° duc b t . ion of capital and labor £the State the State and ,llL ' »4 

%^K^T 7 ^Z C Z a feel fc^i" *«*!*, "*""*«*« 

al] emigrants arriving at this dot -, t i A P n< "' the So «ety receives 

rea j 30nabIe Prices. If fhev , 1 „' ,? ,s ■"''," '" staining suitable lodging ,1 
: P^ then: information as to . "i ' ' V"' :l "" mls to ih ^ transpoTSn 
fjck have the attenti r „ ' , ^..I'' u "' s '",'"; ^en. Pei^who are 

^^mmSLss^-s* ■ 

" ! "'".>■ ""X go for advice 'V .,,,., w&'V ri f d a °" «£ 

men from ,,,,., occupation and i„< ofe , i , '"' T'" "'" ara ac «ve business 

s ■ *■"-- ^-^&rit c ^v^ 

'"".•'"I; c I- il b, mmnSion j , , ,' ' i'i '>'",. .'"'" '■""> Boftoa By 

h running ton North anlsontknv 0l Eas,e ™ North Carolina 

and the Pacific Coast* Tl,, , " .1 V/f v" , ;. , ,' ,, , , r !, - ,,M ," ilh the ,; '-" Northwest 



ALEXANDKIA AND FREDERICKSBUKG EAILWAY 



ALEXANDRIA AND WASHINGTON RAILROAD, 



After 9.00 P.M., Friday, Dec. 6, 1872, trains will run as follows:— 

Leave Southward: Alexandria and Fredericksburg Depot, Alexandria, at 8.16 
A.M. 

Accommodation, daily, except Sunday, at 11.35 P. M. 

Southern Express, daily, except Sunday. 

The Southern Express, at 11.35 P. M., runs through to Richmond without 
change, connecting with trains for all points South. 

Leave Northward : Alexandria and Fredericksburg Depot, Alexandria, at 3.20 
A.M. 

Northern Express, daily, except Monday, 6.05 P.M. 

Accommodation, daily, except Sunday. 

The Northern Express, leaving at 3.20 A. M., runs through to Baltimore with- 
out change. Connecting with trains on the Northern Central Railway for the 
North and West. 

Alexandria and Washington Railroad.— After 9.00 P. M., Friday, Dec. 6, 
1872, trains will run as follows, daily, except Sunday: — 

Leave for Washington at St. Asaph Depot, Alexandria, at 5.38 A. M., 7.53 
A. M., 9.48 A. M., 12.43 P. M., 2.43 P.M., 4.53 P. M., and 6.53 P. M. Accommo- 
dation. 

Arrive from Washington at St. Asaph Depot, Alexandria, at 7.42 A. M., 
9.27 A. M., 11.52 A. M., 2.17 P. M., 4.12 P. M., 6.37 P. M., and 12.12 A. M. 

Leave Washington for Alexandria, Passenger Depot, corner Sixth and B 
Streets, at 7.08 A.M., 8.53 A. M., 11.18 A. M., 1.43 P. M., 3.38 P.M., 6.03 
P.M.. and 11.23 P. M. Accommodation. 

Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railway Trains leave Passenger Depot, 
corner Sixth and B Streets, Washington, at 7.40 A. M. Accommodation to 
Quantico, and 11.00 P.M., Southern Express for Richmond, and all points 
South. 

ED, S. YOUNG, G. P. A. 
EDMUND L. DU BARKY, Supt. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 441 538 3, 



ORANGE, ALEXANDRIA AND MANASSAS RAILROAD, 



ZDomTole Trains IDsiir^- 



On and after Wednesday, January 1, 1873, two daily passenger trains will 
run between WASH] X< tTON and LYNCHBURG, effecting double daily con- 
ns through between NEW YORK and NEW ORLEANS. At Cior- 
donsville connection is made by mail train with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad 
daily (Sunday excepted) to Richmond, Staunton, and the West; at Lynchburg 
with the Atlantic, Mississippi, and Ohio Railroad for the West and Southwest, 
and at Washington for the North and Northwest. 

Leave Washington daily at 7 A. M. and 6.45 P. M., and Alexandria at 8 A. M. 
and 7.45 P. M., arriving at Lynchburg at 4.50 P. M. and 4 A. M. 

Leave Lynchburg at 9 A. M. and 10 P.M., arrive at Alexandria at 6.15 P.M. 
and 6.43 A.M., and ai Washington at 7.15 P. M. and 7.30 A.M. 

For MANASSAS DIVISION, leave Washington daily (excepting Sunday) 
with main line train at 7 A.M., and Alexandria at 8 A.M. Leave Manassas 
Junction at 9.30 A.M., pass Strasburg at 1.16 P.M., and arrive at Harrison- 
burg at 4 P. AI.; connecting with Harmon & Co.'s Stage Lines to Staunton, 
Rawley Springs, etc., etc. 

Eastward, leave I larrisunhurg at 10.20 A.M.; pass Strasburg at 1.22 P.M., 
arrive a1 Manassas .Junction at 4.50 P. M., connecting with the main line through 
to Washington and the North and West. 

Good connections by comfortable coaches are made to Fairfax Court House 
from Fairfax Station; Middleburg from Plains; to Uppcrvillc from Piedmont. 

Loth the Eastward and Westward-bound trains make close connection at 
arg with the Winchester and Strasburg Railroad to Winchester and llar- 
i erry. 

Elegant sleeping cars are run daily between New York and Lynchburg. 

Also, cars through between Baltimore and Lynchburg, avoiding the inconve- 
nience of transfer in Washington. 

Through tickets and baggage checked to all prominent points. 



J. M. BROADUS, 

General Ticket Agent. 



